Liberia’s head coach, Ansu Keita, was forced to miss his country’s most recent FIFA World Cup qualifier against Equatorial Guinea the other day after receiving death threats from Liberian supporters.
Liberia’s 1-0 loss to the Equatorial Guineans was preceded by Keita being informed that by Liberia’s Football Association (LFA) vice president, Adolphus Dolo, that he should skip the game on Monday as there were genuine fears for his safety.
Supporters had become outraged by Liberia’s 1-0 loss to Malawi on Friday, which started their CAF qualification campaign for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Some supporters protested at the media centre at that game, preventing post-match press conference duties from occurring, and LFA officials, including Mustapha Raji the president, were forced to barricade themselves within the ground alongside Keita and his players.
Keita, in an interview with BBC Sport Africa, told officials that he would attend the game, regardless of the death threats, but changed his mind after some members of the LFA committee met with him in a hotel room prior to the match on Monday.
Keita said: “If Liberians want to kill me for football, then let them kill me.”
Keita remains in charge of the national team and appears insistent on seeing out his time with the current world number 151, according to the FIFA rankings.
He went on to say: “I didn’t want to be a part of the match for my own safety and in the best interests of the country. I am still the national team head coach because I have a two-year contract.”
Keita’s Liberia now have no scheduled matches until June 2024, having failed to qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations, which takes place in January in the Ivory Coast. That means their next set of matches will be more FIFA World Cup qualifiers as they travel to face Namibia and then they face Sao Tome e Principe. Their next scheduled home match, and first since these protests, comes in March 2025 when they face Tunisia.
