Namibia 2014: Falcons reach final round, as Sierra Leone withdraws

Nigeria’s Super Falcons have reached the final round of qualifying series for the 2014 African Women Championship, after Sierra Leone announced her withdrawal from the clash with the six-time African champions.

Both teams were due to square off in a qualifying duel in February but Sierra Leone’s voluntary exit means the Falcons will now have to
wait for the winner of the fixture between Kenya and Rwanda to know their final round opponents.

In a letter dated 9th January, addressed to the General Secretary of the Confederation of African Football and copied the NFF, the Acting General Secretary of the Sierra Leone Football Association wrote: “I
write with regrets to inform you of our decision to withdraw our National Female football team from participating in the aforementioned Championship scheduled to kick off mid-February 2014.

“This decision which was reached at our last Executive Committee is due to the present financial status of our Football Association which makes it difficult to honour our proposed fixture against Nigeria in February this year.”

It would be recalled that the U-20 Women National Team, Falconets walloped their counterparts from Sierra Leone 10-0 in Abuja in the first round of their 2014 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup qualification
series in October 2013, and followed up with a 6-0 hammering of their hosts in Freetown on 9th November.