Liberian FA Cup

Liberian FA Cup
Founded	1974
Region	Liberia
Number of teams	25 (2022)
Current champions	LISCR FC (4th title)
Most successful club(s)	Mighty Barrolle (8 titles)

The Liberian Football Association Cup, commonly known as the LFA Cup and currently known as the PetroTrade Cup due to sponsorship reasons,^[1] is an annual knockout cup competition in Liberian football. The LFA Cup is run by and named after the Liberia Football Association and usually refers to the Liberian men's tournament, although an LFA Women's Cup is also held.

The LFA Cup was first held in 1974 with Mighty Barrolle being crowned the first champions. Entry is open to all teams who compete in the Liberian First and Second Divisions. The reigning champion is LISCR FC, who defeated Tony FC in the 2022 final.

Format

The competition is a knockout tournament with pairings for each round drawn at random. There are no seeds and the draw for each round is not made until after the scheduled dates for the previous round. The draw also determines which teams will play at home. Each tie is played as a single leg. If a match is drawn, there is a 30-minute overtime, and penalty shoot-outs if needed.

Draw

The draw for each of the rounds is unseeded and is held at the LFA Headquarters.

Eligible teams

All clubs in the Liberian Premier League and Second Division League are automatically eligible.

African qualification

The LFA Cup winners qualify for the following season's CAF Confederation Cup. This African place applies even if the team is relegated or is not in the Liberian top flight. However, if the LFA Cup winning team has also qualified for the following season's Champions League, then the losing LFA Cup finalist is given the Confederation Cup place instead. LFA Cup winners enter the Confederation Cup at the Qualifiers Stage.

The LFA Cup winners also qualify for the single-match LFA Super Cup against the Liberian Premier League Champions.

Venues

Matches in the LFA Cup are usually played at the home ground of one of the two teams. The team who plays at home is decided when the matches are drawn. There is no seeding system in place within rounds other than when teams enter the competition, therefore the home team is simply the first team drawn out for each fixture. Occasionally games may have to be moved to other grounds due to other events taking place, security reasons or a ground not being suitable to host popular teams.

The LFA Cup Final is usually held at the Antoinette Tubman Stadium

Sponsorship

The LFA Cup doesn't have sponsors at this moment.

LFA Cup winners

Five clubs have won consecutive LFA Cups on more than one occasion: Cedar United (1976, 1977), Mighty Barrolle (1983, 1984, 1985, 1986), LPRC Oilers (1988, 1989 and 1999, 2000), Invincible Eleven (1997, 1998)and LISCR FC (2003, 2004).

Seven clubs have won the LFA Cup as part of a League and Cup double, namely Mighty Barrolle (1974, 1986, 1995), Invincible Eleven (1987, 1997, 1998), NPA Anchors (1994), Junior Professionals (1996), LPRCOilers (1999, 2005), Monrovia Black Stars (2008) and Barrack Young Controllers (2013). Mighty Barrolle and Invincible Eleven share the record of three doubles. Mighty Barrolle have won a double in each of three separate decades (1970s, 1980s, 1990s). Invincible Eleven's three doubles between 1987-1998 highlight their dominance of Liberian football at the time.

LFA Cup winners and finalists

1974 : Mighty Barrolle (Monrovia)
1975 : not played
1976 : Cedar United (Monrovia)
1977 : Cedar United (Monrovia)
1978 : Mighty Barrolle (Monrovia)
1979 : not played
1980 : not played
1981 : Mighty Barrolle (Monrovia)
1982 : Saint Joseph Warriors
1983 : Mighty Barrolle (Monrovia)
1984 : Mighty Barrolle (Monrovia)
1985 : Mighty Barrolle (Monrovia)
1986 : Mighty Barrolle (Monrovia)
1987 : Invincible Eleven (Monrovia)
1988 : LPRC Oilers (Monrovia)
1989 : LPRC Oilers (Monrovia)
1990 : not played
1991 : Invincible Eleven (Monrovia)
1992 : NPA Anchors (Monrovia) 3-1 Invincible Eleven
1993 : LPRC Oilers (Monrovia)
1994 : Monrovia Club Breweries (Monrovia)
1995 : Mighty Barrolle (Monrovia)
1996 : Junior Professional (Monrovia)
1997 : Invincible Eleven (Monrovia)
1998 : Invincible Eleven (Monrovia) 1-2 1-0 Junior Professional
1999 : LPRC Oilers (Monrovia)
2000 : LPRC Oilers (Monrovia)
2001 : not known
2002 : Mighty Blue Angels (Unific. Town) bt Mark Professionals
2003 : LISCR
2004 : LISCR 2-0 Bassa Defender ^[2]
2005 : LPRC Oilers (Monrovia)
2006 : NPA Anchors (Monrovia) 2-2 Mighty Barrolle (Monrovia) (aet, 3-2 pen) ^[3]
2007 : Saint Joseph Warriors bt LISCR
2008 : Monrovia Black Star (Monrovia) 4-1 Mighty Barrolle
2009 : Barrack Young Controllers 1-0 LPRC Oilers (Monrovia) ^[4]
2010 : Aries 4-3 Monrovia Black Star^[5]
2011 : Invincible Eleven 1-0 Barrack Young Controllers^[6]
2012 : Barrack Young Controllers II (reserve side) 1-0 Watanga FC^[7]
2013 : Barrack Young Controllers 6-0 Fatu FC^[8]
2013/14 : FC Fassell 1-0 NPA Anchors (Monrovia) ^[9]
2015 : Barrack Young Controllers II (reserve side) 0-0 (aet), 3-2 (p) Monrovia Club Breweries^[10]
2016 : Monrovia Breweries 2-0 (awarded) Mighty Barrolle (Monrovia)
2017 : LISCR 3-0 ELWA United
2018 : Barrack Young Controllers 4-0 LISCR
2019 : LISCR 2-0 Barrack Young Controllers
2020 : Abandoned
2021 : Monrovia Club Breweries 2-1 Watanga
2022 : LISCR 2-2 (aet), 4-2 (p) Tony FC
2023 : LISCR 2-0 Watanga

References

^ "Liberia: Tony FC Reach First-Ever Knockout Cup Final". Liberian Observer. 25 March 2022. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
^ "Liberia 2004". RSSSF. 22 August 2004.
^ "NPA Wins Knockout Championship". liberiansoccer.com. 20 October 2006. Archived from the original on 7 January 2009.
^ "Liberia Cups 2009". rsssf.com. 21 October 2009. Archived from the original on April 14, 2009.
^ "Liberia Cups 2010". soccerking.co.uk. 16 May 2010.
^ "IE Thrashed BYC In Cellcom Knock-Out". liberiansoccer.com. 12 April 2011. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013.
^ "BYC II Crowns champions of LFA Knock-out Competition" (PDF). frontpageafricaonline.com. 7 October 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2013.
^ "BYC I on the radial -After sweeping all". liberiaentertainment.com. 19 July 2013.
^ "FC Fassell is the LFA Knock-out Champions". liberiansoccer.com. 18 March 2014. Archived from the original on 19 February 2015.
^ "BYC II Wins Liberia FA Cup". bushchicken.com. 28 September 2015. Archived from the original on 18 May 2019. Retrieved 28 September 2015.

External links

[1] "Liberia: Tony FC Reach First-Ever Knockout Cup Final". Liberian Observer. 25 March 2022. Retrieved 1 April 2022.

[2] "Liberia 2004". RSSSF. 22 August 2004.

[3] "NPA Wins Knockout Championship". liberiansoccer.com. 20 October 2006. Archived from the original on 7 January 2009.

[4] "Liberia Cups 2009". rsssf.com. 21 October 2009. Archived from the original on April 14, 2009.

[5] "Liberia Cups 2010". soccerking.co.uk. 16 May 2010.

[6] "IE Thrashed BYC In Cellcom Knock-Out". liberiansoccer.com. 12 April 2011. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013.

[7] "BYC II Crowns champions of LFA Knock-out Competition" (PDF). frontpageafricaonline.com. 7 October 2012. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 October 2013.

[8] "BYC I on the radial -After sweeping all". liberiaentertainment.com. 19 July 2013.

[9] "FC Fassell is the LFA Knock-out Champions". liberiansoccer.com. 18 March 2014. Archived from the original on 19 February 2015.

[10] "BYC II Wins Liberia FA Cup". bushchicken.com. 28 September 2015. Archived from the original on 18 May 2019. Retrieved 28 September 2015.

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