By Mohamed Fajah Barrie BBC Sport, Freetown

Liberia will play Sierra Leone in a friendly on 8 May

Liberia are to face Sierra Leone in a friendly international match in Freetown on 8 May.

Alimu Khulla Bah, secretary general of the Sierra Leone FA, told BBC Sport that Liberia had approached them to organise the match.

Liberia want the game as part of their preparations for the 2006 World Cup and African Cup of Nations qualifying campaign.

"We decided to accept the friendly match to help their build-up and also to help in the process of bridging the gap between the two countries," said Bah.

Sierra Leone face three years without any competitive matches after failing to reach the group stages of the 2006 World Cup and Cup of Nations campaign, when they lost to Congo in the preliminary round.

Liberia will open their 2006 qualifying campaign with an away match in Mali on 6 June, while their Group 1 rivals also include Senegal, Zambia, Togo and Congo.

The last time the two sides met, Liberia beat Sierra Leone 1-0 during the qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup in South Korea and Japan.