The National Assembly Select Committee on Tourism, Culture, Youth and Sports on Friday 13th March 2020 visited the GFF National Technical Training Center (NTTC) and Football Hotel in Yundum as part of their tour of institutions and facilities under their purview.
The Committee headed by Chairman Hon Alagie S Darboe were received at the NTTC by GFF 1st Vice President Alh Bakary K Jammeh alongside Mr Lamin M Sanneh General Manager of Football Hotel.
The Committee was taken on a conducted tour of the edifice led by Mr Jammeh who is also the FIFA Forward 2.0 Project Manager. In receiving the NAMs, the GFF 1st VP expressed delight on behalf of the Federation for their visit to the refurbished GFF National Technical Training Center. He highlighted on the work embarked on by the GFF to refurbish the center after it has been fallen to a dilapidated state. He said the NTTC has a new look that houses an administrative Block, Conference Room, gymnasium, artificial playing field amongst others.
Mr Jammeh in expounding on the GFF Structure and the NTTC funded by FIFA as Goal Project for the Federation, also told the law makers that the GFF has its successes but also constraints since the ascension of the Lamin Kaba Bajo led executive in 2014. 
Also present was the General Secretary of the GFF Lamin M Jassey who also thanked the NAM Select Committee for the visit. “We are extremely happy and pleased to receive you to the GFF National Technical Training Center. This visit is significant for the GFF because it will avail us the opportunity to have a first hand interaction with the NAM regarding our two facilities at both the NTTC and Football Hotel”, Jassey noted.
Similarly, the NAMs were taken on a tour of the facilities of the Football Hotel by General Manager Lamin Sanneh. The Hotel GM also took time to brief the Select Committee on the achievements of the Hotel as conceived by the GFF. He said the hotel is a subsidiary of the GFF describing the initiative as a positive move by the GFF Executive.
Speaking on behalf of the NAM Select Committee, its Chairman Hon Alagi S Darboe first noted their impression on the work carried out by the GFF at both the National Technical Training Center and Football Hotel. He described GFF’s successes as a trail blazer and further urged other Associations to emulate Football House. Hon Darboe noted that a lot of changes took place at the NTTC since his last visit to the Centre. “We are impressed with the level of work taken place here. I was here two to three weeks ago with the Honorable Minister and a lot of development have taken place from the rooms, the swimming pool under construction, artificial turf and the technical department. I want to say that we are really impressed with the work done by the GFF and we do hope that this trend continues,” he noted.
The Brikama North Parliamentarian however added that the GFF should be seen as a case study for other Associations to emulate from. “The Football Hotel is a facility that the Gambia should be proud of. I quote it as an example to the Honorable Minister that, the ministry especially the National Sports Council should not only serve as judges in trying to manage or solve crisis but to also sort out ownership and management of the mini stadiums across the country. So Councils maybe the owners and the community maybe the custodian but there should be a working document/policy that should clearly show how facilities should be managed so that they are better utilized” He said the GFF should be the sample for others to copy from. “I took GFF as an example that the executive have decided to make a separation between the management of the hotel and that of the Exco. Here the Executive is the supreme body but the management is independent with a board“. 
The tour availed the Select Committee to be abreast with first hand information regarding the National Technical Training Center and Football Hotel in Yundum. The project was contracted to Shrecji Development Enterprise, for the refurbishment work which was handed to the GFF through the former FIFA Development Officer for West Africa Sampong Kaplan on 5th November 2015.
The centre’s refurbishment funded by FIFA cost US$500,000 (equivalent to twenty-five million dalasi), with the refurbishment process that lasted for Nine (9) months. The Center consists of a hotel with 40 rooms, technical centre with offices and classrooms, training school, separate changing rooms for males and females, clinic, gym, public toilets, dining hall with a kitchen, high water tank, security room, car packing area among other facilities. The NTTC is the Gambia’s third Goal project supported by FIFA.
The NAMs visit to the GFF facilities in Yundum wraps up the Committee’s five days Nationwide tour of sports, tourism and cultural facilities. Present were the General Secretary of the GFF Lamin M Jassey and staff of the Football Hotel.
