Gambia national football team
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| Association | Gambia Football Association | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Sub-confederation | WAFU (West Africa) | ||
| Confederation | CAF (Africa) | ||
| Head coach | Peter Bonu Johnson | ||
| Captain | Abdou Jammeh | ||
| Home stadium | Independence Stadium | ||
| FIFA code | GAM | ||
| FIFA ranking |
156  12 (9 April 2015) | ||
| Highest FIFA ranking | 65 (June 2009) | ||
| Lowest FIFA ranking | 169 (February 2015) | ||
| Elo ranking | 124 (9 July 2014) | ||
| Highest Elo ranking | 93 (January 1984) | ||
| Lowest Elo ranking | 145 (22 November 1993) | ||
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| First international | |||
 British Gambia 3–2 Senegal  (Gambia; 5 December 1962) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
 Gambia 6–0 Lesotho .svg.png){kind=small} (Banjul, Gambia; 12 October 2002) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
 Guinea 8–0 Gambia (Guinea; 14 May 1972) | |||
The Gambia national football team, nicknamed The Scorpions, is the national team of the Gambia and is controlled by the Gambia Football Association. Until 1965, the team, and the country, were known as British Gambia. It has never qualified for the World Cup or the Africa Cup of Nations finals.
History
Under the name British Gambia, the team played their first ever game on 5 December 1962, beating neighbouring Senegal 3-2 at home in a friendly. In April 1963 the team entered the L'Amitié tournament in Senegal, a competition mainly for French-speaking nations. They were drawn in a group with France's amateur team, the Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) and Gabon. Their first match was lost 5-1 to the French amateurs on 11 April. The Gambia drew 2-2 with the Upper Volta on 13 April, and had the same result the very next day versus Gabon. The Gambia did not advance to the next round.
After the tournament in Senegal, the Gambia did not play another match until 16 November 1968, when they travelled to Sierra Leone to play its team in a friendly and lost 2-1. They played again in Sierra Leone in the Gambia's next match on 24 April 1971 and the hosts won 3-1. On 2 May 1971 the Gambia travelled to Guinea for a friendly and lost 4-2. On 14 May 1972 the Gambia returned to Guinea for their first African Games qualifier and lost 8-0 and were knocked out.
In 1975 the Gambia entered its first qualification campaign for the football at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Canada. They were drawn in a qualifier against Guinea, and lost the first leg 1-0 at home on 27 April 1975. The second leg was lost 6-0 in Guinea on 1 June as Guinea advanced 7-0 on aggregate.
In August 1975, the Gambia entered their first qualification for the African Cup of Nations, with the aim of reaching the 1976 finals in Ethiopia. They were drawn in a two-legged qualifier against Morocco and lost the first leg 3-0 away on 10 August. They lost by the same score in their home leg on 24 August and Morocco advanced 6-0 on aggregate.
After the qualification campaign for the 1976 finals, the Gambia played their first match against a full European side, losing a home friendly 4-1 to Denmark on 30 January 1977.[1]
The Gambia's most famous player is Biri Biri, who starred for Sevilla FC in the 1970s.
In May 2014, The Gambia was banned from all CAF completions for two years after deliberately falsifying players' ages.[2]
Gambia Football Achievements
- Amilcar Cabral Cup :
- 3 Times Runners-up
World Cup record
- 1930 to 1978 – Did not enter
- 1982 to 1986 – Did not qualify
- 1990 – Did not enter
- 1994 – Withdrew
- 1998 to 2014 – Did not qualify
Africa Cup of Nations record
- 1957 to 1974 – Did not enter
- 1976 – Did not qualify
- 1978 – Did not enter
- 1980 to 1988 – Did not qualify
- 1990 – Withdrew
- 1992 – Did not qualify
- 1994 – Did not enter
- 1996 – Withdrew during qualifying
- 1998 – Banned for withdrawing in 1996
- 2000 – Withdrew
- 2002 to 2013 – Did not qualify
- 2015 – Banned
Current squad
The Gambia's players were called for the 2014 World Cup qualifier against Tanzania in Bakau on 7 September 2013.[3]
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Recent Call-Ups
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References
- ↑ "Gambia - List of International Matches". Rsssf.com. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
- ↑ "The Gambia disqualified from all Caf competitions". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
- ↑ "Gambia looking for big finish against Tanzania". Gambia Sports. 6 September 2013.
External links
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