Lincoln City midfielder Kamil Conteh has been called up by Sierra Leone for their upcoming FIFA 2026 Series matches.
It’s going to create a really interesting fact: it’s likely this season we’ll have had two players with. more international starts than Lincoln City starts. Dexter Lembikisa was a regular for Jamaica, but only started for us in the EFL Trophy, and now Conteh, unlikely to start a City game this season, may get the same with Sierra Leone.
Conteh signed from Bristol Rovers on deadline day, but is very much in the Lee Angol and James Brown mould – a player likely only to be called upon in extreme circumstances. His inclusion in the Sierra Leone squad also puts paid to a ‘we have a deep squad, so play the game’ argument for Doncaster, as he is one of the deep squad members covering the others.
The Imps’ game with Doncaster Rovers next Saturday has been called off, with Ivan Varfolomeev and Ryan Oné included in their international squads. Jack Moylan did not make the Ireland squad, but Conteh is now the third Imp called up, which gives us the option of calling the game off.
It’s clear the club will have had prior knowledge of the call-up, hence yesterday’s news.
Sierra Leone, who were once as high as 50th in the world rankings, but are now 120th, will face Oman in Azerbaijan next week (there is a sentence I never thought would have Lincoln City relevance, or indeed ever be written) as part of the FIFA 2026 Series. It is the second edition of FIFA’s cross-confederation friendly tournament, and will take place across eight host countries and 10 host cities, with 36 men’s national teams split into nine four-team series.
The teams involved are: Australia, Cameroon, China and Curaçao in Australia, Azerbaijan, Oman, Saint Lucia and Sierra Leone in Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Indonesia, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Solomon Islands in Indonesia, Comoros, Kazakhstan, Kuwait and Namibia in Kazakhstan, Cape Verde, Chile, Finland and New Zealand in Auckland, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands in Bayamón, Estonia, Grenada, Kenya and Rwanda in Rwanda, Aruba, Liechtenstein, Macau and Tanzania also in Rwanda, and Gabon, Trinidad and Tobago, Uzbekistan and Venezuela in Uzbekistan.
A veritable festival of football. Imagine being lucky enough to witness Liechtenstein and Macau in Rwanda. The very best of days.