Sierra Leone became the fourth country to withdraw from the Africa zone qualifiers to the 2018 Fifa Women’s Under-17 World cup after failing to travel to The Gambia over the weekend.
Countries like Mali, Kenya and Libya pulled out of the qualifiers before the preliminary round first leg fixtures.
Sierra Leone were scheduled to honour the return leg of their preliminary round tie in Banjul on Saturday.
However, the crisis-hit Sierra Leone Football Association said it lacked the needed funds for the U-17 girls to fly to the landlocked nation.
“Our withdrawal is due to financial difficulties as the SLFA account is currently frozen,” the acting President of Sierra Leone’s Football Association (SLFA) Brima Mazola Kamara told BBC Sport.
“We tried our best to get cash from other avenues to finance the trip to Banjul but we didn’t succeed,” he added.
The Gambia won the first leg, traveling to beat Sierra Leone 3-0 in Bo.
The Gambia now progress to the first round to face Ghana over two legs later in December.
