19th March, 2024

TERMS OF REFERENCE (TORS) FOR A CONSULTANT TO DEVELOP A BUSINESS PLAN FOR THE CREATION OF A PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL LEAGUE IN THE GAMBIA FOR THE 2025/2026 LEAGUE SEASON

  1. Introduction

The Gambia Football Federation (GFF) is a private organisation of an associative nature formed in compliance with the Laws of the Republic of The Gambia and registered with the National Sports Council of The Gambia. The GFF is a Member of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), Confederation of African Football (CAF) and of the West African Football Union (WAFU). Accordingly, the GFF is obliged to respect the statutes, regulations, directives and decisions of FIFA, CAF and of WAFU and to ensure that these are likewise respected by its Member Associations.

Organs of the GFF

The GFF is made up of three organs: The General Assembly, which is the Supreme and Legislative Body, the Executive Committee headed by the President and the Secretariat headed by the General Secretary. The main objective of the Gambia Football Federation is to promote, develop and administer all forms of association football in The Gambia.

  1. Background of the Consultancy

The domestic Gambian league is still in its amateur stage. Thus, it is the objective of the GFF to finally create a professional football league in The Gambia starting from the 2025/26 league season. The GFF is very much aware that the sports industry has the potential to play a critical role in the socioeconomic development of the Gambia. Thus, in order to ensure that our sports industry consolidate and maintain the gains made in making football socially and economically valuable, it is essential to that we now begin to turn our casual spectators into lifelong fans who travel for games and financially demonstrate their continuous support for their teams. Therefore, the purpose of the professional league is to create a business venture that will remain profitable while providing entertainment to an ever-expanding audience.

  1. Scope of the Consultancy

In this regard, the GFF is requesting the services of a renowned and competent Consultant to develop a Business Plan to serve as the catalyst for the beginning of the aforesaid league in The Gambia for the 2025/26 Football League season. The professional league will ensure that the clubs have the appropriate physical infrastructure, knowledge, administrative and managerial structures  and application in respect of management and organisation as well as to adopt and improve the clubs’ sporting infrastructure. It will also ensure that the clubs improve their economic and financial capacity through proper corporate governance and control and guarantee the continued participation in international competitions of the clubs. It will also allow the parallel development and comparison amongst the clubs by ensuring the compliance in terms of financial, sporting, legal, administration and infrastructure criteria.

  1. Terms of Reference of the Consultant

The Terms and Reference of the Consultant includes, but not limited to the following:

  • Develop the framework to isolate the important factors in the formation and development of a professional football league
  • Create a corporate sponsorship model that will make the professional league attractive for corporate sponsorship.
  • The importance of television to sporting events cannot be overemphasized, thus, the Consultant must establish a mechanism that will ensure the greatest amount of exposure of the league on Television that will lead to the increase in sponsorship opportunities.
  • Firming up and alignment of Key performance Indicators (KPIs) for the creation of the league
  • Lead in identifying opportunities and capacity needs in the creation of the professional league and give tangible recommendations.
  • Lead the process in engaging the government to create the enabling environment by creating tax laws that will attract the private sector involvement in sports.
  • To support the process of disseminating the developed policies during the planning phase through a professional packaging of the changes and the motivation for change.
  • Lead the process in engaging all the stakeholders, including the clubs and government agencies as well as the private sector to advice on the model to use for the creation of the league.
  • The Consultant is also expected to create clearly defined roles and responsibilities and the separation of powers and duties in the establishment of the league.

4.10 The Consultant must identify the professional league’s strengths and capacity needs

  1. Consultant’s Requirements
    • The Consultant should be registered with the necessary regulatory bodies with a minimum of 10 years’ experience in general experience with at least three years’ experience in similar assignment.
    • The Consultant should also provide a customised training and team building plan clearly articulating the objectives of the exercise.
    • The Consultant should also explain the methodology to be used during the assignment
    • Have a clear understanding of the assignment/interpretation of the TORs and possesses the technical capacity in terms of qualifications and competencies for the assignment.
    • Must also submit a detailed workplan clearly indicating the maximum timeframe/duration required for the assignment to meet the targeted date to start the professional league.
    • The Consultant must possess a minimum of a Master’s Degree in Organisation Development/Business Administration or their equivalence with at least a minimum of three years’ experience in facilitation of team building, knowledge sharing workshops and conducting sustainable team building activities;
    • Must have a demonstrated knowledge of the operations of sport organisations.
    • Excellent analytical, writing and communication skills.

Interested candidates should send in proposals addressed to The Gambia Football Federation not later than 5th April 2024. The proposal should include a clear breakdown of the financial proposal including all the chargeable taxes as well as the terms of payment.

Proposal including all the requirements and details specified above should be sent through email to info@gambiaff.org or:

The General Secretary

Gambia Football Federation House

Kanifing East Layout

Kanifing Municipality

The Gambia

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