The Gambia Football Federation (GFF) recently appointed Regional Coaches, as well as Administrative and Finance Assistants for all the seven regional football associations in the country. The GFF in the same vein appointed a Human Resource Manager and Competition Assistant, geared towards beefing up the administrative staff to ensure efficient and effective service delivery.
The appointment of the regional support staff is in line with the Federation’s continuous strife to ensure sustainable development in the decentralisation of football in the country. The initiative, will empower the regions with requisite resources including manpower to ensure effective delivery of the regional programmes and activities, especially the regional leagues. The GFF will be responsible for the monthly salaries of these regional personnel and will also provide them with a means of transportation (Motorcycles) to facilitate their movements in their respective areas of jurisdiction.
The President of GFF Lamin Kaba Bajo, congratulated the new members of staff for a well-earned appointment and reaffirmed his unalloyed commitment to ensure the sustainable development of football in The Gambia, especially from the grassroots, in line with the Federation’s four-year strategic development plan.
The appointments came hot on the heels of the recently concluded Annual General Meeting’s decision to increase annual funding to the regional football associations by 300% from D50,000 to D200,000. “This is in line with our efforts to bridge the gap between the urban and rural areas in terms of football development,” Bajo said, further disclosing plans to submit an Income Generating Project to FIFA to set up a commercial transportation service (Buses) that would also be used to transport players to and from league and cup matches in every part of the country, especially when the four regions of LRR, NBR, CRR and URR are incorporated into the national league in 2018/2019.
Bajo further noted that preparations were also in high gear for the submission of new projects for the development and improvement of other football grounds within both urban and rural areas. This, he added, is also in tandem with plans to develop seven standard football facilities, at least one in each of the country’s seven regions, through funding from FIFA and a Public Private Partnership approach by which the GFF would develop facilities capable of hosting international football matches.
This process is in high gear with the recent inauguration of an artificial football pitch in Jarra Soma, Lower River Region. He added that the process of securing funds for the further development of the Soma Mini Stadium is at advanced stage.
