Fifa gives Sierra Leone Tuesday ultimatum as Ghana fixture hangs in the balance

Fifa says it will give Sierra Leone no special dispensation to honour their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Ghana amid a current ban from all football activities for "governmental interference".

Instead, the world football's governing body insists the Sierra Leonean government must reinstate ousted football association president Isha Johansen and general secretary Christopher Kamara by end of Tuesday to have the ban lifted to enable the Leone Stars play their 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Ghana on Thursday. 

Sierra Leone were handed a ban from football on Friday - six days to the October 11 fixture - after government failed to comply with Fifa's order to have the ousted Johansen-led administration given control of the football association. 

After a meeting on Monday, government wrote to Fifa, asking to be allowed to honour Thursday's game, while undertaking "processes to resolve the current impasse".

"We would like to remind you that in its decision dated 5 October 2018 to suspend the SLFA with immediate effect, the Bureau of the Council specified that the suspension will only be lifted once the SLFA and its recognised leadership (led by SLFA President, Ms Isha Johansen, and SLFA General Secretary, Mr Christopher Kamara) have confirmed to FIFA that the SLFA administration, premises, accounts and communication channels are under their control once again. Consequently, as long as this condition has not been met, the suspension will remain in place," a Fifa letter addressed to the SLFA on Tuesday stated. 

"Finally, please note that any proposal to lift the suspension of the SLFA will have to be submitted to the Bureau of the Council for approval. This is a time-consuming administrative process. Therefore, and without prejudice to the timelines that apply for the Confederation of African Football (CAF), for the suspension to be lifted in time for Sierra Leone's Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Ghana on Thursday, 11 October 2018, any written confirmation that the above-mentioned condition has been met should be submitted by no later than today, 9 October 2018 at 18:00 (CET)."

Should the ban be lifted, Sierra Leone will face Ghana in Kumasi on Thursday before hosting the return encounter in Freetown four days later.