Liberia: Earth Angels Deducted Three Points for Fielding Illegal Players
photo from the Shaita vs Earth Angels match played on February 5 at the Technical Center in Careysburg.
The Grievance and Disciplinary Committee of the Liberia Football Association has ruled that the result of the match played between Shaita Angels and Earth Angels on February 5, at the Technical Center in Careysburg, be reversed with Shaita Angels taking all three points and two goals.
Shaita Angels on February 7 filed a protest against Earth Angels for fielding two foreign players (Chichi Faith Nwaizwe and Judith Chinaze Osuarwel) without legal work permits.
Article 6, Section 1.0 of the LFA Regulation on the status and transfer of players states: “A foreign player is any player who is not a Liberian citizen unless the player has obtained permanent residence under Liberian Nationality Law. Clubs are required to request for the ITC of foreign players via LFA through the TMS platform.”
Section 1.1 also states: “A club intending to register a foreign player must present original residence and
work permits of the player before registration. The Competition Department will not accept payment receipt as residence or work permit.”
According to the committee’s findings, both players Nwaigwe and Chanizea, Nigerians, obtained legal residence permit from the Liberia Immagration Service, but “research made by the committee revealed that work permit receipts presented by Earth Angels for the foreign players (with numbers 4843375-2021 and 483376-2021) to the LFA for registration don’t exist anywhere in the database of the Ministry of Labor; therefore rendering said permits invalid.”
The committee therefore recommended that the result be reversed in keeping with Chapter 2, Article 2, Section 3.1 of the Status and Transfer of Players which states: “A team which fields an illegal player who is not properly registered, transferred or suspended in a match, shall forfeit the match in which the player participated and all other previous matches by three points and two goals. The team concerned shall be fined as indicated before its next league or competition match.
Earth Angels, with 12 points from 14 games, have now dropped to second from bottom position with nine points, with three games to end the league season.
Meanwhile, Shaita Angels, who secured their first-ever victory in the women’s upper-division last weekend with a 4-1 win against DC Shooters, remain at the bottom of the table with nine points.