October 25 – Liberia has a recent history of bloody civil war with former head of state Charles Taylor’s conviction for war crimes being the first of a former head of state in an international court since the Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders.
Liberia’s football politics have been similarly aggressive and with an election for the FA presidency due in 2026, the fight has already begun.
The current Liberian FA (LFA) president is Mustapha Raji, who was first elected in 2018 and has said he will run again in 2022.
He is up against FC Fassell president and CEO , Cassell Kouh (pictured).
Kouh is alleged to be trying to destabilise the LFA by getting members to vote against Raji proposals. He is also accused of offering cash for votes.
On April 5, 2024, Kuoh invited a group of voting LFA stakeholders to the Mamba Point Hotel, in Monrovia, where he declared his intentions to run for the LAF presidency and told club presidents present at themeeting that he will provide $50,000 to each to the 42 clubs that will be voting in 2026, before the election takes place.
Kouh has a criminal past. A former vice president for operations of the LFA, he pled guilty in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of North Caroline in connection with an investment fraud scheme involving gold and diamonds that defrauded victims of more than $9.5 million, He was given a seven-year sentence, that he served in federal prison, for wire fraud. The scheme, one of the largest diamond scams in the world, involved defrauding numerous victims.
Rochell Woodson, president of Kneeling Warriors FC and a vocal supporter of Raji, has been a major critic of Kouh, saying that his criminal record should ban him from standing in the election and that he can’t be trusted.
Kouh’s response has been abusive. On a football chat show he used derogatory remarks towards Woodson that were met widespread criticism, and on social media he threatened to release nude pictures of Woodson.
Woodson is compiling a complaint for FIFA Ethics.
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