LFA Upholds Relegation Decision against Jubilee FC amid Deadlock in Appeal Board Voting Process

Paynesville City, Liberia: The Liberia Football Association (LFA) has firmly upheld its previous decision that relegated Second Division Jubilee Football Club to the Third Division, after members of the LFA’s Appeal Board fell short of handing down an unambiguous ruling in the complaint filed by the club.

K-News Sports Desk gathered that tied votes emerged among members of the LFA’s Appeal Board on Jubilee FC's petition for reconsideration, a process in which two voted for and two voted against the club's appeal, making it impossible to render a verdict to overturn the LFA’s relegation action against the club.

Sources within the corridor of the LFA told K-News Sports Desk that Bishop J. Allan Krayee, Chief Executive Officer of Jubilee Football Club and also a member of the LFA Appeal Board, recused himself from the hearing of the reconsideration club’s appeal for reconsideration.

Following the tied vote process, the LFA on Friday, May 9, 2025, announced that the outcome of the appeal process could not change its initial decision, and as such its decision to relegate Jubilee FC from the Second Division League to the Third Division remained unchanged.

The relegation of Jubilee FC, affectionately called “The Church Boys,” has left many football followers to wonder over the yardstick used by the football governing body to maintain its relegation action against the club, owing to the fact that the Appeal Board issued no definite ruling on the matter.

When contacted, LFA’s Media Manager, Anthony Kokoi, told K-News Sports Desk that the LFA upheld its decision on the description of administrative discipline from the legal process, which a tie vote points to the initial decision, clarifying that said description is not clearly enshrined in the LFA statutes. 

"It was not the president who broke the tie; the initial decision stands from the legal process, understood by rules and regulations of taking an appeal," LFA Media Manager Kokoi acknowledged.

It can be recalled that on April 14, 2025, LFA announced the immediate relegation of Jubilee FC from the Second Division to the Third Division for what the governing body of Liberian football termed as the club's refusal to settle a fine of US$10,000 imposed on it for submitting a fraudulent business registration document during the registration process of the 2024-2025 football season.

The Football House furthered that the act amounts to regulatory violations in the local league and that the relegation action was taken due to the Jubilee FC's non-compliance posture to the imposed fine in line with its book of sanctions.

With the relegation action finally taking effect, this comes as a major blow for the Monrovia-based club after fighting to secure a promotion slot to the First Division from the just-ended 2024-2025 Second Division season.

Sports pundits believe the hope of Coach Otis Tarnue's boys of getting back to the First Division anytime soon has been dashed after the consequences of the relegation forfeited their slot to the top-flight league.