Morocco Grants Liberia Use of Stadium after SKD Ban
Liberia will now host Nigeria and Central African Republic at the Grand Stade de Tanger on November 11 and 15 respectively.
Following CAF’s decision to maintain the ban on the SKD Sports Stadium as the facility still does not fully meet the set CAF stadium minimum requirements, the Kingdom of Morocco has granted Liberia the use of one of its stadiums, Grand Stade de Tanger for the Lone Star’s remaining two matches in the 2022 Qatar World Cup Qualifiers.
This comes after a request from the Liberia Football Association (LFA) to its Moroccan counterparts, the LFA disclosed in a press release on Friday, October 22.
Following CAF’s re-inspection visit to the facility from October 15 to 17 — a visit that was initially scheduled for September 12 to 13 — CAF on October 20, informed the LFA that based on the inspection report, they (CAF) “regret to inform you that the stadium still does not fully meet the set CAF stadium minimum requirements and consequently will not be approved for the qualifying matches of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 matchday 5 & 6.”
CAF said in the communication that the stadium still lacks several CAF criteria and requirements in order to properly host international senior competitions.
“We would like to point out that among other stadium requirements; one of the main concerns in the stadium is the pitch in the field of play, which is not up to the required level to host CAF/FIFA matches. As a technical recommendation, the stadium management should consider removing the pitch altogether and installing a new one, while hiring in a professional company to conduct a full assessment of the ground and subsequently assist with the maintenance of the pitch,” CAF said in its communication.
Following the confirmation from the Royal Morocco Football Federation (RMFF), Liberia will now host Nigeria and the Central African Republic at the Grand Stade de Tanger on November 11 and 15 (16:00Hrs GMT) respectively.
Located in the port city of Tangier, northwestern Morocco, Grand Stade de Tanger is home to IR Tanger, a top tier Moroccan club with a capacity of 45,000.
