The Liberia national football team, nicknamed the Lone Stars, represents Liberia in men’s international football and is controlled by the Liberia Football Association. Wikipedia
Founded: 1936
Highest: 66 (July 2001)
Association: Liberia Football Association
Arenas/Stadiums: Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex, Antoinette Tubman Stadium
The Liberia national football team, nicknamed the Lone Stars, represents Liberia in men’s international football and is controlled by the Liberia Football Association. Although the nation produced the 1995 FIFA World Player of the Year, George Weah, its football team has never qualified for the FIFA World Cup and has qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations just twice—in 1996 and 2002. It is a member of both FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
History
African Cup of Nations
In 1967 Liberia played in its first African Cup of Nations qualifying campaign, drawing its first match 2–2 against Guinea. They also drew against Senegal however lost both returning fixtures and were eliminated in the first round. Liberia returned to qualifying in 1976 but lost in the preliminary round to Togo, falling to defeat in both fixtures. After another absence, Liberia again joined AFCON qualifying in 1982 in the preliminary rounds but failed to progress after two draws against Gambia, losing on the away goals rule.
Liberia withdrew from qualifying for the 1984 African Cup of Nations, but the following tournament they managed to secure their first win during qualifying, a 3–1 first leg victory over Mauritania. They failed to capitalize on this advantage, losing 3–0 in the second leg. Liberia then faced Sierra Leone and Mali during the 1988 qualification and 1990 qualification respectively, but again failed to progress. In 1992, Liberia withdrew from qualifying before playing a match and in 1994, Liberia was put into a group with two participants that withdrew during qualifying (Tanzania and Burkina Faso) however they failed to take advantage of this, and finished with zero points, having lost to Ghana twice.
In the 1996 African Cup of Nations qualification, Liberia managed to register three wins (against Togo, Tunisia and Mauritania) and four draws, which saw them finish the group in second place and qualify for their first African Cup of Nations tournament. Following the withdrawal of Nigeria, Liberia were placed in a group with Gabon and Zaire. Liberia opened the tournament with a 2–1 victory over Gabon with goals from Kelvin Sebwe and Mass Sarr Jr., but lost 2–0 to Zaire. This meant that Liberia finished bottom of the group on goal difference and failed to progress to the knock-out stages.
Liberia missed out on returning to the African Cup of Nations in 1998 as they finished one point off of qualification. In 2000, they defeated Niger in the preliminary rounds, but again failed to advance to the main tournament, this time finishing behind Algeria on goal-difference.
In 2002 African Cup of Nations qualification, Liberia beat Cape Verde in the preliminary rounds, then they finished top of their group to qualify for the main tournament for the second time in their history. In the 2002 African Cup of Nations, Liberia drew their first game 1–1 with Mali (goal scored by George Weah) and drew their second game 2–2 against Algeria (goals from Prince Daye and Kelvin Sebwe), but in their final group game, needing a win against Nigeria, they lost 1–0.
FIFA World Cup
Liberia first entered the qualifying process for the FIFA World Cup in 1966, however they withdrew in protest against the fact that too few places had been reserved for Africa and Asia, along with all fourteen other African nations that had initially entered qualifying.
Liberia next entered qualifying in 1982 against Guinea after receiving a bye in the first round. They lost 1–0 over the two legs and were eliminated. In 1986, Liberia was again eliminated without having scored a goal, falling 4–0 to Nigeria. In 1990, Liberia won its first FIFA qualifying match defeating Ghana to progress to the second round. Despite finishing second in their group, Liberia failed to advance to the final qualification round, ending two points behind group winners Egypt.
In 1998, Liberia beat Gambia in the first qualification round, but finished twelve points adrift of Tunisia in their group. In 2002, Liberia had their strongest qualifying campaign, however a loss against Ghana in their penultimate group game gave Nigeria the opportunity to overtake them and secure the only qualification spot.
Results
| Key | |
| Win | |
| Draw | |
| Defeat |
2021
| 27 March 2021Friendly | Saudi Arabia U23 | 3–2 | Liberia | showRiyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| 30 March 2021Friendly | Saudi Arabia U23 | 0–0 | Liberia | showRiyadh, Saudi Arabia |
| 11 June 2021Friendly | Mauritania | 1–0 | Liberia | showTunis, Tunisia |
| 14 June 2021Friendly | Libya | 0–1 | Liberia | showTunis, Tunisia |
| 17 June 2021Friendly | Algeria | 5–1 | Liberia | showOran, Algeria |
| 3 September 20212022 World Cup qualification | Nigeria | 2–0 | Liberia | showLagos, Nigeria |
| 6 September 20212022 World Cup qualification | Central African Republic | 0–1 | Liberia | showDouala, Cameroon |
| 7 October 20212022 World Cup qualification | Liberia | 1–2 | Cape Verde | showAccra, Ghana |
| 10 October 20212022 World Cup qualification | Cape Verde | 1–0 | Liberia | showMindelo, Cape Verde |
| 13 November 20212022 World Cup qualification | Liberia | 0–2 | Nigeria | showTangiers, Morocco |
| 16 November 20212022 World Cup qualification | Liberia | 3–1 | Central African Republic | showTangier, Morocco |
2022
| 24 March 2022Friendly | Liberia | 0–4 | Benin | showAntalya, Turkey |
| 27 March 2022Friendly | Liberia | 0–1 | Sierra Leone | showAntalya, Turkey |
| 29 March 2022Friendly | Burundi | 2–1 | Liberia | showAntalya, Turkey |
| 9 June 20222023 AFCON Q | Zimbabwe | Cancelled | Liberia | showZimbabwe |
| 13 June 20222023 AFCON Q | Liberia | 0–2 | Morocco | showCasablanca, Morocco |
| 24 July 20222022 African Nations Championship Q | Liberia | 0–3 | Senegal | showPaynesville, Liberia |
| 30 July 20222022 African Nations Championship Q | Senegal | 1–2 | Liberia | showDakar, Senegal |
| 25 September 2022Friendly | Niger | 0–0 | Liberia | showAlexandria, Egypt |
| 27 September 2022Friendly | Egypt | 3–0 | Liberia | showAlexandria, Egypt |
Players
Current squad
The following players were called up for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualification match against Morocco.[3] Caps and goals correct as of 13 June 2022.
| No. | Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Goals | Club |
| GK | Tommy Songo | 20 April 1995 (age 27) | 17 | 0 | LISCR | |
| GK | Junior Yeanaye | 19 December 2004 (age 17) | 2 | 0 | Nimba Kwado | |
| GK | Derrick Julu | 13 May 2002 (age 20) | 1 | 0 | Watanga | |
| DF | Oscar Dorley | 19 July 1998 (age 24) | 27 | 1 | Slavia Prague | |
| DF | Sampson Dweh | 10 October 2001 (age 21) | 12 | 0 | LPRC Oilers | |
| DF | Prince Balde | 23 March 1998 (age 24) | 10 | 0 | Drita | |
| DF | Ben Benaiah | 6 December 1992 (age 29) | 5 | 0 | LPRC Oilers | |
| DF | Mark Pabai | 30 September 2000 (age 22) | 4 | 0 | SPAL | |
| DF | Jamal Arago | 28 August 1993 (age 29) | 3 | 0 | Sabail | |
| DF | Eugene Dennis | 16 November 1996 (age 25) | 1 | 0 | Ishøj | |
| MF | Marcus Macauley | 27 October 1991 (age 31) | 20 | 5 | Al-Jeel | |
| MF | Allen Njie | 26 July 1999 (age 23) | 19 | 0 | Aarau | |
| MF | Seth Hellberg | 19 August 1995 (age 27) | 9 | 0 | Brage | |
| MF | Brem Soumaoro | 8 August 1996 (age 26) | 8 | 0 | PAEEK | |
| MF | Justin Salmon | 25 January 1999 (age 23) | 5 | 0 | Degerfors | |
| MF | Frank Allison | 25 June 2004 (age 18) | 2 | 0 | Freeport | |
| MF | Julius Nyanamah | 21 December 2004 (age 17) | 0 | 0 | Nimba Kwado | |
| FW | Kpah Sherman | 3 February 1992 (age 30) | 17 | 3 | Terengganu | |
| FW | Moussa Sanoh | 20 July 1995 (age 27) | 6 | 0 | Mioveni | |
| FW | Divine Teah | 19 April 2005 (age 17) | 2 | 1 | Free agent | |
| FW | Joachim Adukor | 2 May 1993 (age 29) | 1 | 0 | Aktobe | |
| FW | Molley Karpeh | 24 December 1994 (age 27) | 1 | 0 | Syracuse Pulse | |
| FW | Patrick Dweh | 28 December 2002 (age 19) | 0 | 0 | Freeport |