Former SLFA president Isha Johansen announced her memoir, aiming to share her account of governance disputes and reforms.
Football leadership is often debated in public, but Isha Johansen says her side was never properly heard until now.
The former Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) president announced that her memoir, The Uncommon Enemy, is set to be released, describing her time in office and the difficulties she faced in football administration.. Speaking at a press conference in Freetown, she said the book is a personal account of events during her tenure, including governance disputes, internal conflicts, and wider challenges affecting the sport across Africa.. The memoir is also positioned as her response to years of scrutiny, when she felt her perspective was not fully represented.
She is also framing the memoir around a broader argument about governance in African football, saying it has become a recurring topic far beyond Sierra Leone.
In detailing her leadership period, Johansen referenced disputes within Sierra Leone’s football structures, including allegations, legal challenges, and internal divisions.. She said she was widely criticised during her time at the SLFA and that the book revisits how reforms and power dynamics unfolded.. She also spoke about relationships within football administration, describing how partnerships formed during reform efforts can later fall apart.
In this context, a leadership memoir can function as more than a personal narrative, especially when administration and accountability remain central public concerns.
Johansen further said the memoir includes personal moments that she did not talk about publicly at the time, including periods of depression during and after her tenure.. She described the writing process as emotionally difficult, explaining that revisiting old experiences could pull her back into darker places.. For her, the project ultimately became a way to reflect and recover, even when it required reliving uncomfortable memories.
Her decision to connect personal hardship with institutional politics underlines how leadership roles can take a toll on individuals, not just organizations.
On the publication timeline, Johansen said The Uncommon Enemy will have its official launch in the United Kingdom on June 5, with pre-orders expected to be available ahead of release. She added that engagement in Sierra Leone will begin first, emphasizing the importance of sharing the story locally.
The memoir is expected to cover themes such as leadership, governance, gender, and resilience, both within football and in settings beyond the sport. That range matters because football administration does not exist in isolation, and governance decisions can shape opportunities for years.
For Misryoum, this announcement signals that Johansen’s memoir may reignite debate around how reforms are pursued, how narratives are controlled, and how leaders reckon with the human cost of running major sports institutions.