The Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) announces with deep regret that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has informed the federation that five of our national U17 players have failed the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) age screening conducted in Senegal ahead of the WAFU U17 tournament. As a result, the Sierra Leone U17 team has been disqualified from the competition.

This news comes as a shock to the SLFA, given that the team underwent a pre- tournament MRI screening at EcoMed Advanced Medical Diagnostics in Freetown. The results of this screening showed that all members of the squad had passed.

The same pre-test procedure was used during the tournaments in Senegal (2020) and Mauritania (2022), where the team achieved a 100% pass rate.

In response, the SLFA has immediately launched an official appeal, requesting the names and scan results of the players identified as having failed the MRI tests. We have also requested a possible retest to ensure the accuracy of the results. In support of our case, the SLFA has presented the pass results from the preliminary tests conducted on the full squad in Sierra Leone prior to their departure for the tournament.

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The SLFA remains committed to ensuring fair treatment for our national team and will pursue all avenues to resolve this matter transparently. We assure the public that we are doing everything within our power to seek clarity and justice for our team.

Further updates will be provided as we continue to engage with CAF on this issue.