MONROVIA, Montserrado – The Monrovia Football Academy is set to participate in its first international tournament since its establishment in 2015. The team departed the country for Ivory Coast via the Robert International Airport on Friday, October 27.
According to a release by the football academy, the tournament, which is organized by Ivorian youth side, Ivoire Academie, will be held in Abidjan among teams from Guinea, Sierra Leone, Mali, Nigeria, and Ivory Coast.
The tournament, which will last for seven days, will begin on October 30 and end on Sunday, November 5.
The team departed the country with a 20-man delegation which includes 15 athletes, four staff, and a videographer. Despite traveling to the Ivory Coast for a football tournament, the football academy continued academic classes, with the team participating in hours of academic classes with the director of academics, Musa Sheriff, on Saturday, October 28. The classes were organized as makeup to lessons missed during their travel day, Friday, October 27.
The team will play their first match on Monday, October 30, when they go against Ivoire Academie of Ivory Coast at 8:00 a.m. They will have a day rest and play their second match against MT Soccer Foundation of Sierra Leone on November 1 at 8:00 a.m. before their third match against Racing d’ Abidjan of Ivory Coast.
Even though a fund-raising page was launched to help support the trip, the Monrovia Football Academy announced Digital Ignition Entertainment as their official trip sponsor.
Prior to their departure, a fundraiser was launched to raise the amount of US$2,000 to cover room and board, travel documents, and transportation to and from the airport.
The Monrovia Football Academy is the only representative from Liberia that will participate in the under-15 tournament.
Featured photo courtesy of Chongyoon Aaron Nah
