Gambia national football team

Gambia
Nickname(s) The Scorpions
Association Gambia Football Federation
Confederation CAF (Africa)
Sub-confederation WAFU (West Africa)
Head coach Sang Ndong
Captain Omar Colley
Home stadium Independence Stadium (Bakau)
FIFA code GAM
First colours
Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current 161 Increase 6 (6 July 2017)
Highest 65 (June 2009)
Lowest 179 (March 2017)
Elo ranking
Current 137 (7 May 2017)
Highest 93 (January 1984)
Lowest 145 (22 November 1993)
First international
The Gambia British Gambia 3–2 Senegal 
(Gambia; 5 December 1962)
Biggest win
The Gambia Gambia 6–0 Lesotho 
(Banjul, Gambia; 12 October 2002)
Biggest defeat
 Guinea 8–0 Gambia The 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 Federation. 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 competitions for two years after deliberately falsifying players' ages.[2]

Home stadium

Football fans watching Gambia v Guinea

Independence Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Bakau, Gambia. It is currently used mostly for football matches, although it is also used for music concerts, political events, trade fairs and national celebrations. The stadium holds 30,000 people.[3]

Match record

Gambia Football Achievements

Amilcar Cabral Cup :
  • 3 Times Runners-up

World Cup record

Africa Cup of Nations record

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification

Gambia were drawn in the first qualifying round against Namibia and were eliminated following a 1–1 draw[4] in Banjul and 1–2 defeat[5] in Windhoek.

9 October 2015 (2015-10-09)
17:00 (UTC±0)
Gambia  1–1  Namibia
Jammeh  78' Report (FIFA)
Report (CAF)		 Stephanus  61'
Independence Stadium, Bakau
Referee: Ousmane Karembe (Mali)

13 October 2015 (2015-10-13)
16:00 (UTC+2)
Namibia  2–1  Gambia
Stephanus  42'
Somaeb  63'		 Report (FIFA)
Report (CAF)		 Dibba  10'
Sam Nujoma Stadium, Windhoek
Referee: Joshua Bondo (Botswana)

Namibia won 3–2 on aggregate and advanced to the second round against Guinea.

Recent results and forthcoming fixtures

Coaching staff

Former national team goalkeeper and national team head coach Sang Ndong was re-appointed into the role of head coach in February 2016.[6][7] He has also spent time as technical director with the GFF previously and has stepped in as interim coach of the Scorpions on several occasions in the past. His appointment was a show of support for local coaches and introduced a process of rebuilding and rebranding the national team.[8][9]

Head Coach The Gambia Sang Ndong
Assistant Coach The Gambia Mattar M'Boge
Assistant Coach The Gambia Alhagie Sarr
Goalkeeping Coach The Gambia Alhagie Marong
Team Doctor Egypt Dr. Emad Al Radwan
Physiotherapist The Gambia Wandifa Ceesay
Equipment Manager The Gambia Amadou LS Jaiteh

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for a friendly match against Central African Republic on 27 March 2017.[10]

0#0 Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1 1GK Modou Jobe (1988-10-27) October 27, 1988 7 0 Senegal Linguère
18 1GK Alhagie Nyabally (1991-11-15) November 15, 1991 5 0 The Gambia Real de Banjul
1GK Baboucarr Gaye (1998-02-24) February 24, 1998 0 0 Germany Arminia Bielefeld
15 2DF Bubacarr Sanneh (1994-11-14) November 14, 1994 7 0 Denmark Horsens
2DF Mamadou Danso (1983-04-27) April 27, 1983 11 1 Malaysia Kelantan FA
2DF Omar Colley (Captain) (1992-10-24) October 24, 1992 10 0 Belgium Racing Genk
2DF Amando Aust (1990-04-23) April 23, 1990 1 0 Germany Dassendorf
2DF Simon Richter (1985-01-16) January 16, 1985 1 0 Denmark Roskilde
2DF John Bass (1995-11-28) November 28, 1995 0 0 The Gambia Brikama United
2 3MF Hamza Barry (1994-10-15) October 15, 1994 11 0 Croatia Hajduk Split
4 3MF Dawda Ngum (1990-09-02) September 2, 1990 2 0 Sweden FC Rosengård 1917
5 3MF Tijan Jaiteh (1988-12-31) December 31, 1988 15 1 Israel Bnei Yehuda
8 3MF Sainey Sambou (1992-02-02) February 2, 1992 3 0 The Gambia Brikama United
10 3MF Modou Barrow (1992-10-03) October 3, 1992 6 1 Wales Swansea City
11 3MF Mustapha Carayol (1988-09-04) September 4, 1988 4 2 England Nottingham Forest
3MF Pa Modou Jagne (1989-12-26) December 26, 1989 24 1 Switzerland Sion
3MF Sulayman Marreh (1996-01-15) January 15, 1996 11 0 Spain Granada B
3MF Kristian Brix (1990-06-13) June 13, 1990 0 0 Norway Fredrikstad
7 4FW Lamin Jallow (1995-12-18) December 18, 1995 4 0 Italy Trapani
9 4FW Assan Ceesay (1994-03-17) March 17, 1994 1 0 Switzerland Lugano
4FW Bubacarr Trawally (1994-11-10) November 10, 1994 4 0 China Yanbian Funde
4FW Bibie Njie (1997-04-05) April 5, 1997 0 0 Germany Hamburger II
4FW Fodiba Danso (1989-03-04) March 4, 1989 0 0 France Fleury
4FW Yusupha Njie (1994-01-03) January 3, 1994 0 0 Morocco FUS de Rabat

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up for Gambia in the last 12 months.

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
DF Gregory Sambou (1994-10-25) October 25, 1994 5 0 The Gambia Gambia Ports Authority vs.  Cameroon on 3 September 2016
DF Hamidou Bojang (1997-01-01) January 1, 1997 1 0 Senegal Linguère vs.  Cameroon on 3 September 2016
DF Nuha Barrow (1993-10-10) October 10, 1993 3 0 The Gambia Gamtel vs.  Cameroon on 3 September 2016
DF Alieu Jatta (1995-09-18) September 18, 1995 2 0 Senegal Génération Foot vs.  Cameroon on 3 September 2016
DF Musa Yaffa (1994-07-15) July 15, 1994 2 0 The Gambia Banjul Hawks vs.  South Africa on 4 June 2016
MF Lamin Charty (1996-04-08) April 8, 1996 6 0 The Gambia Banjul Hawks vs.  Cameroon on 3 September 2016
MF Mass Manga (1995-01-01) January 1, 1995 4 0 The Gambia Banjul Hawks vs.  Cameroon on 3 September 2016
MF Ebou Kanteh (1995-02-12) February 12, 1995 3 1 The Gambia Brikama United vs.  Cameroon on 3 September 2016
FW Bully Drammeh (1995-07-15) July 15, 1995 6 0 The Gambia Real de Banjul vs.  Cameroon on 3 September 2016
MF Kaba Sambou (1996-04-20) April 20, 1996 6 0 Kosovo Trepça'89 vs.  South Africa on 4 June 2016
MF Muhammed Conteh (1996-03-31) March 31, 1996 1 0 Senegal Mbour Petite Côte vs.  South Africa on 4 June 2016
FW Emil Sambou (1994-05-11) May 11, 1994 5 0 South Africa Santos vs.  South Africa on 4 June 2016
FW Bacari (1988-03-14) March 14, 1988 2 0 Bulgaria Cherno More vs.  South Africa on 4 June 2016

Coaches since 1987

References

  1. ↑ "Gambia – List of International Matches". Rsssf.com. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
  2. ↑ "The Gambia disqualified from all Caf competitions". BBC Sport. Retrieved 27 May 2014.
  3. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-09-23. Retrieved 2013-08-27.
  4. ↑ "Namibia secured a 1–1 draw away to Gambia". kickoff.com. Retrieved 2015-10-09.
  5. ↑ "Warriors beat Gambia to setup Guinea clash". nbc.na. Retrieved 2015-10-13.
  6. ↑ "Former international Sang Ndong named new Gambia coach". bbc.com. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  7. ↑ "Gambia Reappoints Sang Ndong National Team Coach". observer.gm. Retrieved 4 February 2016.
  8. ↑ "Scorpions Coach on Mauritania Game". observer.gm. Retrieved 8 March 2016.
  9. ↑ "Scorpions Coach Appeals For Support in Rebuilding Process". observer.gm. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
  10. ↑ "SPORTS: Gambia Scorpions team invitees finally revealed by head coach Sang Ndong". gambiano.net. 2017-03-18. Retrieved 2017-04-06.
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