Coach Butler’s Contract Extended by Additional One Year
Coach Butler (right) providing instructions to players at one of their training sessions at the SKD mini-stadium in Paynesville
The Liberia Football Association (LFA) has extended the contract of Lone Star senior national team head coach, Peter James Butler, by an additional year.
The decision was reached at the football house during its Executive Committee meeting on August 2, 2021, when it approved the proposal from the Technical Development Committee to extend Coach Butler’s contract.
This is the second time that the 54-year-old’s contract has been extended by an additional year. In 2020, following the expiration of Butler’s one-year contract, the LFA, in consultation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, agreed to extend the Englishman’s contract, also by a year.
Since taking over as Head coach of the Lone Star in 2019, Butler has so far guided the Lone Star to nine games in all competitions and won three, lost five and drew one.
He secured a 3-1 victory over Sierra Leone in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifiers preliminary round at the Samuel Kanyon Doe Sports Complex in Paynesville and later lost the return leg 1-0 and progressed to the group stage qualifiers on a 3-2 aggregate.
However, Butler failed to qualify the Lone Star to the group stage of the Total Africa Cup of Nations Cameroon 2021 qualifiers, after losing to Chad on penalties at the preliminary rounds.
Liberia won the first leg 1-0 at home, but conceded a similar defeat away, thus resulting in post-match penalties.
Recently, in June, the Lone Star suffered a 1-0 defeat against Mauritania and later won Libya 1-0 in two international friendlies before losing 5-1 to the Algeria national team comprising local-based players.
After the extension of his contract, Butler is expected to commence preparation with home-based players for the upcoming international fixtures.
Liberia is expected to return to competitive action in September, when they travel to Nigeria for the first leg of the continental qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 qualifiers.
The Lone Star were paired in Group C with Nigeria, Cape Verde and the Central African Republic.
According to the format of the qualification, Liberia will have to finish as group winners in order to progress to the next round of the qualifiers.