TheCable

Sierra Leone will host the second leg of their 2018 World Cup first-round qualifier against Chad in Port Harcourt, Nigeria on October 13.

The country was banned from hosting games because of the threat of the Ebola virus.

The ban, which has been in place since August 2014, will be lifted in November if no new Ebola cases are registered. Sierra Leone are now into a 42-day countdown to be declared free of the virus by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

Before now, the country’s national teams had been playing home fixtures in the venues of their opponents and had lost most of the matches.

The Leone Stars used Port Harcourt as their home ground for their Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Cote d’Ivoire in September. The game ended goalless.

“We are thankful to the Nigerian FA and authorities in Port Harcourt,” Sierra Leone Football Association official, Sorie Ibrahim Sesay, told BBC Sport.

“And hopefully we’ll eliminate Chad.”

Leone Stars will face Egypt in November if they knock out Chad.