By S. Siapha Mulbah
LISCR Football Club has been crowned champions of the Liberia Football Association National first Division League after collecting a total of 62 points from 26 league games in the campaign.
The 2022/23 champions commonly known as the Shipping Boys won 19 league games as the highest number won by any team this season considering five draws and two loses in their fixtures.
The champions ended four points clear over undefeated Bea Mountain sitting second with 58 points followed by Watanga, third place, with 49 points.
On Sunday April 23, 2023 the leadership of the Liberia Football Association led by its president Mustapha Raji officially turned over the title to LISCR after the completion of the season in their last match against Sandi Football Club.
In the closing match, the Shipping Boys’ Christopher Jackson and Ishmael Dumbuya closed the scorers chart by netting goals to eliminate the Harbel-based first league club that was already relegated before the encounter.
Jackson scored one of four goals in the final against Sandi confirming him being the highest goal scorer in the 2022/23 national league season.
The striker hit the back of the net 23 good times for LISCR making 23 goals a sufficient status for the Golden boot that he won in 2019/20 and was also regarded as the league most valuable player the same year.
The new champions taking over from Watanga will be seeking their second trophy of the season in an Orange Cup final Sunday April 30, 2023. They will take on Watanga who finished third in the national league.
With a space already secured for LISCR in the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF) program, Watanga will also battle to take the remaining slot in to the confederation program.
A win for Watanga in the Orange Cup final will automatically take the team to the qualifying rounds of the Totalenergies Confederations Cup while LICSR will go as Liberia’s representative to the qualifying rounds of the CAF Champions league.
Both teams went to the continental competitions last season but in opposite categories.
Watanga then took on Rivers United of Nigeria in the CAF Champions League and LISCR met SC Genoa of Cote D’ Ivoire in the Confederations Cup.
