By Sainey Kanyi
The Kaba led executive committee took over the reings of Gambian football in September 2014. Prior to Kaba’s instalment as the Supremo of Gambian football, The Gambia had already faced a two-year sanction from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) due to age cheating in a CAF U20 qualifying game against Liberia. This immediately followed the setting up of a Normalisation Committee (NC) that oversaw the running of football. Mr Bajo made a strong statement and in verbatim “To unite, stabilize and sustain an upward trend in football development with key focus on qualifying Gambia for AFCON or FIFA World Cup”. Today, his executive has achieved most of its target with the AFCON qualification highlighting his biggest accomplishment as the President of the Gambia Football Federation. Here is a thorough look at the key achievements of the Kaba led executive starting with the Men’s National team, the Men’s U20, and the Women’s National League that has been growing exponentially, and finally the key players within his staff.
NATIONAL TEAM/U20
The Gambia national team is so dear to the hearts of the Gambian people. Since its foundation, the scorpions as they are fondly called, have been competing in CAF and FIFA sanctioned competitions for close to four decades. In 1975, the small African nation entered the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) for the first time to compete for a place in the 1976 AFCON in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia but fell in the hands of the Atlas Lions of Morocco. Despite never making a trip to the AFCON finals, the team have participated in many continental showpieces and in 2002 got its biggest win (6-0) against the Crocodiles of Lesotho.
When Mr Lamin Kaba Bajo took over in 2014, his first challenge was the 2017 AFCON qualifiers under the guidance of Swiss born tactician Raoul Savoy, Savoy’s boys were pitted in a star-studded group hosting Cameroon, South Africa and Mauritania. His campaign started with a famous goalless draw in Johannesburg against the Bafana Bafana of South Africa which got the hopes of fans reignited ahead of match day two against the Indomitable lions of Cameroon. Unfortunately, the team narrowly lost 1-0 and as expected, the Gambian football lovers who had for many years longed for a trip to Africa’s biggest competition began to show their dissatisfaction to the results with the most notables the 4-0 home thumping in the hands of South Africa and a preliminary round elimination by Namibia which led to the early exit from the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. The Scorpions opened the 2017 AFCON qualifiers on a high note but eventually crumbled with an abysmal accumulation of two (2) points out of a possible eighteen (18) was highly disappointing.
But, the executive saw this as a lesson and gathered the motivation needed to work even harder. They regrouped and planted a better structure on and off the pitch. Part of the restructuring included the hiring of a new coach for the 2019 AFCON qualifiers. The Belgian born tactician Tom Saintfiet was revealed to the fans but many regarded the move as a hasty and panicky appointment. Tom’s first attempt in the qualifiers was also another close missed opportunity to a continental contest. In both games against Togo, the Scorpions could have won and sealed qualification for the very first time ever but fell short of that achievement.
The two missed AFCONs (2017 & 2019) relegated The Gambia to the preliminary stages of the 2021 AFCON qualifiers against football minnows Djibouti. Eventually, the Scorpions capped off the tie with a win on penalty shootout sending them to the proper qualifying series of Group D alongside DR Congo, Angola and Gabon. Despite the victory, the majority of the fans were still very skeptical of the chances to make it to the AFCON proper. The team opened their campaign with an away trip to Luanda against Angola bringing home a resounding 3-1 victory ending a three-decade winless run for the nation in a competitive match away from home. This famous win brought back the love of the fans ahead of the home game against the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) which ended 2-2. Despite the draw the red, white, blue, white, greens sat on top of the group and Gambians began to be hopeful for a berth in the continental tourney.
On the 25th of March 2021, which was the penultimate round of qualifiers against Angola. The game had a huge bearing on the pitch and a win would send The Gambia to the AFCON. The match ended 1-0 for the host with a historic finish from Assan Ceesay who was the top scorer for the team. The historic qualification brought joy to the Kaba led executive, Government, stakeholders, players, coaches and the general public at large. The Scorpions would for the first time compete in the AFCON next year.
This was a major achievement by Kaba and his team, but it wasn’t the first. Before the Senior national team made history in the AFCON qualifiers, the Baby Scorpions were making a name for Gambia in Mauritania achieving significant feats in the Total Africa U20 Cup of Nations. Their journey started at the WAFU U20 Championship in Thiés, the team commenced the tourney on a sloppy route losing 5-1 to host Senegal. It was a defeat that did not go down well for the football enthusiasts back home resulting in an open criticism of the head Coach and players. Eventually, Coach M’boge’s side gained momentum collecting enough points to book a place to the Semi-finals of the WAFU U20 against Guinea Conakry who are regulars as far as the U20 Championship is concerned. In that encounter, Gambia dumped the young Syli National out of the regional competition which served as a qualifying series for the 2021 U20 Championship.
Then came the grand finale against our fiercest rivals in Senegal. Having lost the opener versus the young Téranga Lions, tactics and characters had to be different in Coach Matarr’s approach to the final and yes it was. A hard-fought match which went on to penalties after a 1 all affair at the Stade Lat Dior in Thiés kept both sets of fans at the edge of their seats. The young stinging Scorpions eventually beat the young lions of Téranga on penalties to book a ticket to the 2021 U20 championship for the first time in fourteen (14) years. M’boge’s boys denied qualification of notables like Senegal, Mali and Guinea to seal a place in Nouakchott for the first time since 2007.
The draw of the 2021 African Youth Championship (AYC) took place on 25 January 2021 at the Hilton Hotel in Cameroon and The Gambia U20 side were handed a “group of death” that included Ghana, Morocco and Tanzania. The Gambia U20 kicked off the tournament with a narrow 1-0 defeat in the hands of the young Atlas lions of Morocco. Followed by a disappointing 1 all encounter against Tanzania. The last group game was against the Black Satellites of Ghana (eventual winners) which was a must win game for the young Scorpions with the lads beating the four-time champions to advance to the knockout stages. They went on to end the campaign with a respectable third-place finish which was enough for a place in FIFA U20 World Cup in Indonesia. Unfortunately, the tournament got cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
WOMEN’S FOOTBALL
Another exceptional development in the Gambian football fraternity since the Kaba executive took over is the Women’s football that has considerably improved with notable strides especially in the organizational structure of female football. In spite of the cultural hindrances related to women playing football, the federation has managed to significantly improve the women’s game with the “FIFA LIVE YOUR GIRLS FESTIVALS” which is focused on breaking through the barriers facing women’s football around the globe. Since the launching of this project in 2014, the LKB led executive through the women’s football coordinator Sainey S M’boge and her vibrant team have been able to lure 2,230 girls into the beautiful game. Since grassroots football is the base in football development, the current Football Federation in partnership with the Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) successfully started an inter school competition among girls to promote the game within this gender. In the same vein, the GFF technical directorate organized a U15 Girls Grassroots Jamboree throughout the country and one of the key goals was to promote and encourage young girls to play football. With these structures in place, it helped in the glitch free selection of players to the female U17 of The Gambia.
In 2017, The Gambia Women’s U17 made their second participation in the FIFA U17 women’s World Cup qualifiers. The girls thumped the Salone girls by a score line of 3-0 booking a spot to the next qualifying stage of the female global showpiece. In the next stage, the team was handed female football powerhouse Ghana falling short to the Ghanaians with a 7-1 aggregate defeat.
Outside the pitch, the football federation also placed a premium on an administration that involves more women. This administration currently has two female representatives who are responsible for the rolling out of policies related to women’s football. The increased participation in the national football administration has also allowed some of key actors to represent the nation at CAF/FIFA meetings most especially the CAF women’s symposium which was held in Morocco. Other places where representation also increased include designated roles as match commissioners in WAFU, CAF and FIFA sanctioned matches.
In addition, the establishment of a Gambia-Germany partnership saw the Gambia Football Federation cooperate with the German foreign office through the Gambia National Olympic Committee (GNOC) in a two-year project aimed at improving the structures of women’s football. It inspired women in football and consolidated diplomatic ties between The Gambia and other countries. The coordinator of the project was Monika Staab, who played football to the highest level.
Capacity building in the side of female football is another interest that this federation continues to show a lot of dedication in. Through the Gambia/German project, the capacity of coaches involved in women’s football skyrocketed as well. From 2014, the GFF has trained a total of 380 coaches involved in women’s football across the country.
Refereeing in female football has shown an upward trajectory too. The training of female referees has seen changes in the public’s biased view towards women’s football which has allowed female referees to officiate all-male affairs in the first and second division. In the same light, female referee Isatou Touray who is referred to as the next Bakary Papa Gassama and many others are now officiating AWCON qualifiers, WAFU competitions and FIFA international friendlies thanks to the continued investment in the capacity building of referees by the current football executive.
Since the participation of women in administrative duties has significantly increased, the participation of females on the pitch is on the rise as well, this is also visible in the number of female teams across the nation.
Number of women’s football clubs: 17
Number of registered players: 510
Number of female officials: 37
Number of female coaches: 2
Majority of the players from these female clubs make up the women’s national team called the Queen Scorpions. In 2017, the team played its first ever international match against Guinea Bissau in a two-legged home and away fixture which the stinging ladies won. In 2018, the women’s national team was registered for the very first time for the Africa Women’s Cup of Nations (AWCON), the female Scorpions were drawn to face the Mares of Burkina Faso in the preliminary stages of the AFCON qualifiers. The team edged out Burkina Faso on penalties to book a place to the final stage of the qualifiers where they faced the Super Falcons of Nigeria, the most successful female national team in Africa. In the first leg that was held in Banjul, the Nigerians narrowly won by a lone goal despite being heavy favorites. The reverse fixture in Lagos saw them playing at full strength hammering the queen scorpions by six goals to nil thus ending Gambia’s first ever campaign in an AWCON showpiece.
SPECIAL MESSAGE
I would like to congratulate the Kaba led executive and all other important actors (players, administrators, coaches, journalists etc) on these significant strides more especially that of the National team. The exco of LKB built a friendly relationship with the central government through the Ministry of Youth and Sports and ensured that the national team gets the required attention and support it deserves. For instance, the GFF in collaboration with the ministry of sports hired chartered flights to ease the travelling of players for FIFA schedule games. Additionally, special appreciation goes to Team Manager Ousman Cho Drammeh who has been tireless and relentless in ensuring that everything on team logistics is sorted out. It cannot be done alone; I would want to extend this message to the former FF Presidents and football people who have laid the foundation for this historic feat.
“Individual success is important but collective success is more important”, Sainey Kanyi.
This is why we should not forget behind-the-scenes actors in this historic feat. The second Vice President of the Gambia Football Federation Mr Ebou Faye has played a vital role in this as a man who was mostly at the heart of things in convincing Gambian born internationals to play for the country during a European tour sometime in 2017 with the current Technical Director Mr. Sang Ndong. In addition, his role as the General Manager of the Independence Stadium has facilitated the smooth hosting of national team games looking at it from a pitch perspective. Similarly, Marketing and Communication is key in modern football and this domain has significantly contributed to the National Team. Headed by Mr. Baboucarr Camara, who holds a Master’s Degree in Sports Management, the GFF media team has transformed the reportage of the Scorpions in both pre and post games with high quality videos of the players, administrators and technical team and that depicts a classic way of disseminating information to the doorstep of the people. Coach Matarr Mbodge, The Gambia U20 gaffer is also part of this historic feat. One-time assistant Coach for the Scorpions, his good working relationship with Tom Saintfiet have not gone unnoticed as the U20 striker Momodou Bojang made the preliminary call-up of the Angola and DR Congo games. Additionally, the success of the young Scorpions in the just concluded African Youth Championship (AYC) in Nouakchott served as motivation for the National Team in delivering a qualification berth to the AFCON for the very first time. Tom Saintfiet expressed satisfaction and went on to say that some of the U20 players would be given a chance in future national team engagements.
Editors note: The views expressed are that of the author and not ours.
