One of the leading top-flight football clubs in Sierra Leone, FC Johansen has officially withdrawn their sensational midfielder, the Ghanaian born Samuel Bekoe from the Sierra Leone National Home Base (Leone Stars B Team) training camp.

A leaked letter written by FC Johansen Secretary James Momorie to the Federation’s Head of Competition Sorie Ibrahim Sesay stated the player in question ”is NOT a Sierra Leonean, and as such, he is not eligible to represent the country.”
Statement from FC Johansen letter reads:
“In accordance with good governance and upholding the integrity of the laws of the game and constitutional laws of the country, the board has decided to withdraw the said player from the SLFA National training camp with immediate effect. In addition, any allowances given to Samuel Bekoe by SLFA will be instantly refunded to the federation.”
“Samuel’s love for Sierra Leone and football is uncompromising and our prayer is that he will one day live his dream to play for our beloved nation.”

It can be recalled that Samuel was amongst one of the favorite players tipped to represent Sierra Leone at the 2021 AFCON finals in Cameroon earlier this year.
According to sources within FA, senior officials had confirmed that Samuel’s naturalization from Ghanaian to Sierra Leonean was in progress in line with the country’s laws, and assurances were given to get it done. All of which came to a disappointing end amidst controversies amongst teammates and officials.

In March this year, Samuel was again called up to be part of the Leone Stars squad in the Antalya Cup in Turkey. His eligibility status was still not settled, but he was released by his club FC Johansen based on the fact that the match he would feature in (Sierra Leone vs Liberia) was not a FIFA sanctioned match, which allows for a certain number of foreign players to be featured in unofficial matches of that nature.