Junior Lone Star Disengage Preparation for Inaugural WAFU Cup Following Sudden Postponement

Monrovia, Liberia: Liberia's male Under-20 National Football Team, known as the Junior Lone Star, has left camp at the George Weah Technical Center in Careysburg, Montserrado County, following the postponement of the inaugural West African Football Union (WAFU) Zone A and B men's Under-20 Cup—just one week to the kickoff.

The indefinite postponement of the tournament was announced through a communication by the West African Football Union on Monday, June 9, 2025, to member countries for what were described as organizational reasons.

The WAFU Zone A and B men's Under-20 Cup was originally scheduled to kick off from June 15 to 30, 2025, in Accra, Ghana, and was expected to have featured 13 West African nations, including Liberia.

“For organizational reasons, WAFU-B has just proposed that the WAFU U-20 Cup Tournament, which was due to be held from June 15 to 30 in Ghana, be postponed to a later date.

We are currently discussing certain arrangements with WAFU-B and will inform the federations of the final decision by tomorrow," communication stated.

The Liberia Football Association (LFA) confirmed the decision by WAFU instructing players and technical staff who have been in training camp for more than a week at the George Weah Technical Center to return to their respective duties until a new date for the tournament is set.

The Liberia U-20 men's national team, under the leadership of newly appointed head coach Cooper Sannah, had earlier honored a series of training sessions and tactic drills and released a 20-player squad list for the maiden WAFU Zone A and B tournament.

Expected participating nations in the postponed WAFU Cup include Togo, The Gambia, Liberia, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Niger, Mali, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, and Benin, and host Ghana.

The competition was a pathway to improve the performance of national youth football teams from different zones of WAFU.

Liberia was drawn in Group A with Togo, The Gambia, and host Ghana.