2016 Liberian First Division League

The 2016 Liberian First Division League (known as the LFA-Cellcom First Division League for sponsorship reasons)^[1] is the 43rd season of the Liberian Premier League, the Liberian professional league for association football clubs, since the league's establishment in 1956.

LFA-Cellcom First Division

Season	2015–16
Matches played	5
Goals scored	17 (3.4 per match)
Top goalscorer	Junior Barshall Justino Jackson (2 goals)
Biggest away win	Keitrace FC 0-4 BYC (24 January 2016)
← 2015 2016–17 → All statistics correct as of 24 January 2016. Note: Walkovers counted in matches played but not counted in goals scored.

The season was expected to start on Thursday 10 December 2015 but was postponed because some clubs had not completed the CAF Club Licensing criteria.^[2] The season finally commenced on 23 January 2016.

Teams

A total of 10 teams are contesting the league, including seven sides from the 2015 season and three promoted from the 2015 Second Division League. On 20 & 27 September 2015, Mighty Dragons FC and ELWA United FC both earned promotion from the 2015 Second Division League after playing each other in a two-legged Second Division Championship Playoff with Mighty Dragons being crowned Second Division Champions after a 3-2 aggregate win.^[3] Holder FC also claimed a promotion place, after defeating Mighty Blue Angels in the Promotion Playoff.^[3]

The three teams replaced Jubilee FC, Aries FC, and MC Breweries who were relegated to the Second Division.

Two other First Division Clubs: I.E. and NPA Anchor were denied participation for the 2015-16 season due to their failure to meet the statutory requirements in the Club Licensing System.^[4]

Stadia and locations

Mighty Dragons

Nimba Utd

Monrovia:
BYC
ELWA United
FC Fassell
Holder FC
Keitrace FC
LISCR F.C.
LPRC Oilers
Watanga FC

Locations of the 2015-16 First Division teams

Clubs	Location	stadium	capacity
Barrack Young Controllers	Monrovia	The Blue Field	3,000
ELWA United	Monrovia	ATS	10,000
FC Fassell	Monrovia	ATS	10,000
Holder FC	Monrovia	ATS	10,000
Keitrace FC	Monrovia	ATS	10,000
LISCR F.C.	Monrovia	ATS	10,000
LPRC Oilers	Monrovia	ATS	10,000
Mighty Dragons FC	Gbarnga	Gbarnga Sports Stadium	2,000
Nimba United	Mt. Barclay	NorthStar Sports Stadium	1,000
Watanga F.C.	Monrovia	ATS	10,000

Personnel

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Coach1
Barrack Young Controllers	Cooper Sannor
ELWA United	TBA TBA
FC Fassell	Sam Chebli
Holder F.C.	TBA TBA
Keitrace F.C.	TBA TBA
LISCR FC	Robert Lartey
LPRC Oilers	Gabriel Johns
Mighty Dragons	TBA TBA
Nimba United	Kollie Korvey
Watanga F.C.	TBA TBA

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Barrack Young Controllers (C)	20	15	4	1	44	12	+32	49	Qualification for 2017 CAF Champions League
2	FC Fassell	20	11	5	4	35	22	+13	38
3	Nimba United	20	9	5	6	27	22	+5	32
4	Watanga	20	7	8	5	30	22	+8	29
5	LISCR	20	7	6	7	28	22	+6	27
6	LPRC Oilers	20	5	9	6	18	19	−1	24
7	ELWA United	20	6	4	10	20	29	−9	22
8	Keitrace	20	6	5	9	24	33	−9	21[a]
9	Mighty Dragons	19	5	4	10	18	39	−21	19	Relegation to LFA-Cellcom Second Division
10	NPA Anchors	20	3	9	8	16	24	−8	18
11	Holder	20	3	6	11	21	36	−15	15

Updated to match(es) played on 30 April 2016. Source: rsssf.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions
Notes:

1. 2 points deducted?

Winner of the 2015–16 Liberian FA Cup will qualify for the 2017 CAF Confederation Cup.

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

As of matches played on 24 January 2016.^[5]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Junior Barshall	BYC FC	2
	Justino Jackson	Holder FC
3	Trokon Saykiameh	ELWA United	1
	Adetu Evanonye	Nimba United
	Mark Payne	BYC FC
	Dominic Jlateh	LISCR FC
	Chris Jackson	LISCR FC
	Kesselly Kamara	FC Fassell
	Abraham Kwateh	Watanga FC
	Kelvin Potis	Watanga FC

Clean sheets

As of matches played on 24 January 2016.

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Mulbah Urey	BYC FC	1
	Samson Giddings	FC Fassell

Discipline

As of matches played on 24 January 2016

Player

• Most yellow cards: 1^[6]
  • Patrick Jackson (LPRC Oilers)
  • Sholee Quiah (Nimba United)
  • Wilton Ninneh (Nimba United)
  • Saylee Swen (LPRC Oilers)
  • Trokon Zeon (LPRC Oilers)

• Most red cards: 1^[6]
  • Trokon Saykiameh (ELWA United)

Club

• Most yellow cards: 3^[7]
  • LPRC Oilers

• Most red cards: 1^[7]
  • ELWA United

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Coach of the Month		Player of the Month		Reference
	Coach	Club	Player	Club
January
February
March
April
May
June