The 2025/2026 National County Sports meet took another turn on Friday as the organizers, the Youth and Sports Ministry, ruled against Lofa’s participation in the competition.
The Youth and Sports Ministry, in a statement, said it reserves the right to render decisions on matters not specified in the tournament’s rules.
Lofa County was found guilty of violating the competition rules by the protest committee, but that was overturned by the appeal board, which called for a replay of the match and the suspension of two players.
But, the Youth and Sports Ministry said it had taken the seizure of the matter, which had drawn huge attention in the country.
Hours before the decision was taken, Lofa County’s most successful steering committee chairman, Senator Momo Cyrus, resigned as chair of the committee, calling on other Lofians to take charge.
This will mean it’s the second time Lofa County failed to progress to the quarterfinal as Defending Champions. Lofa again failed to advance to the quarterfinals in the 2021/2022 edition when they were defending the title. Lofa that year were eliminated in a drawn match against Grand Cape Mount County.
The decision means Grand Bassa County finished Group C as group winners after they were given the points they lost to Lofa. Grand Cape Mount are runner-up in the group after they too were awarded the Lofa points.
At the same time, the Youth and Sports Ministry states that it has implemented robust security measures to prevent overcrowding at the SKD.
Meanwhile, the Youth and Sports Ministry has made changes to the fixtures released earlier.
River Gee will take on Cape Mount in the kickball first match, before Gbarpolu faces Margibi County in kickball game two.
Margibi will chase Montserrado County in the first football match, before Rivergee and Grand Cape Mount face off in the late game, which promises to be tense.
Rivergee is still bitter with Grand Cape Mount County from their last meeting last year, which ended prematurely.
Rivergee forfeited that match in protest to poor officiating when Cape Mount hosted the group A activities.