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Gambia

Nickname(s)	The Scorpions
Association	Gambia Football Federation
Confederation	CAF (Africa)
Sub-confederation	WAFU (West Africa)
Head coach	Tom Saintfiet
Captain	Omar Colley
Most caps	Pa Modou Jagne (42)
Top scorer	Assan Ceesay (13)
Home stadium	Independence Stadium, Bakau
FIFA code	GAM
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	126 2 (6 October 2022)[1]
Highest	65 (June 2009)
Lowest	179 (March 2017)
First international
British Gambia 2–1 Sierra Leone (Gambia; 9 February 1953)
Biggest win
Gambia 6–0 Lesotho  (Bakau, Gambia; 13 October 2002)
Biggest defeat
Guinea 8–0 Gambia  (Guinea; 14 May 1972)
Africa Cup of Nations
Appearances	1 (first in 2021)
Best result	Quarter-finals (2021)

The Gambia national football team represents The Gambia in men's international football and is controlled by the Gambia Football Federation. Until 1965, the team and the country were known as British Gambia. The team has never qualified for the World Cup. In 2021, Gambia qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations finals for the first time in history. The team represents both FIFA and Confederation of African Football (CAF).

History

Under the name British Gambia, the team played their first ever game on 9 February 1953 against Sierra Leone, winning 2–1 at home in a friendly.[2] 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 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 of that same year, 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.[3]

On 12 October 2002, the team got their biggest ever victory in international competition, a 6–0 victory against Lesotho. [4]

In May 2014, the Gambia was banned from all CAF competitions for two years after deliberately falsifying players' ages.[5]

The nation's fortunes improved in qualification for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations. Although they failed to qualify, they took it to the final round of games, including drawing twice with African giants Algeria.

On 13 November, in their first Group D match of 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification, Gambia defeated Angola 1–3 in Luanda. This was the Scorpions' first away win in an AFCON or FIFA World Cup qualifier ever, at their 40th attempt. An impressive campaign saw them qualify for their first ever major tournament that year. As the lowest-ranked team in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, the Gambia defied the odds by defeating favourites Tunisia in the group stage, finishing unbeaten in 2nd place in the group. A further win against Guinea in the Round of 16 saw them reach the quarter-finals at their first attempt, eventually going out to tournament hosts Cameroon.

Home stadium

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.[6]

Recent schedule and results

The following is a list of match results from the previous 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

  Win   Draw   Loss

2022

2023

Coaching staff

In July 2018, former Togo and Zimbabwe coach Tom Saintfiet, was appointed as head coach. Saintfiet took over from former international Sang Ndong who is now technical director of the Gambia Football Federation (GFF) following the end of his contract in January.[7]

Head Coach	Tom Saintfiet
Team Manager	Ousman Drammeh
Assistant Coach	Alagie Sarr
Physical Coach	Daniele Caleca
Goalkeeper Coach	Alhagie Marong
Goalkeeper Coach	Jo Stock
Team Doctor	Pa Landing
Physiotherapist	Tom Mertens
Physiotherapist	Joppe Vermeulen
Equipment Manager	Mustapha Kassama
Technical Assistant	Robby Echelmeyer
Video Analyst	Jani Sarajärvi
International Scout	Alessandro Soli

Coaching history

Players

Current squad

The following players have been called up for the 2023 AFCON qualifiers against South Sudan and Congo, on 4 and 8 June 2022.[8]

Caps and goals are correct as of 8 June 2022, after the match against Congo.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
	1GK	Modou Jobe	(1988-10-27) 27 October 1988 (age 34)	29	0	Black Leopards
	1GK	Baboucarr Gaye	(1998-02-24) 24 February 1998 (age 24)	13	0	Rödinghausen
	1GK	Lamin Sarr	(2001-03-11) 11 March 2001 (age 21)	0	0	Umeå
	2DF	Omar Colley	(1992-10-24) 24 October 1992 (age 30)	41	0	Sampdoria
	2DF	Bubacarr Sanneh	(1994-11-14) 14 November 1994 (age 28)	35	1	Free agent
	2DF	Ibou Touray	(1994-12-24) 24 December 1994 (age 27)	16	0	Salford City
	2DF	James Gomez	(2001-11-14) 14 November 2001 (age 21)	12	1	Horsens
	2DF	Muhammed Sanneh	(2000-02-19) 19 February 2000 (age 22)	6	0	Baník Ostrava
	2DF	Sainey Njie	(2001-08-30) 30 August 2001 (age 21)	3	0	Zemplín Michalovce
	3MF	Sulayman Marreh	(1996-01-15) 15 January 1996 (age 26)	32	1	Gent
	3MF	Ablie Jallow	(1998-11-14) 14 November 1998 (age 24)	24	6	Metz
	3MF	Yusupha Bobb	(1996-06-22) 22 June 1996 (age 26)	19	0	Free agent
	3MF	Hamza Barry	(1994-05-03) 3 May 1994 (age 28)	17	0	Vejle
	3MF	Ebrima Darboe	(2001-06-06) 6 June 2001 (age 21)	13	0	Roma
	3MF	Sulayman Bojang	(1997-09-03) 3 September 1997 (age 25)	8	0	Skeid
	3MF	Matarr Ceesay	(2000-01-19) 19 January 2000 (age 22)	2	0	AmaZulu
	4FW	Assan Ceesay	(1994-03-17) 17 March 1994 (age 28)	32	13	Lecce
	4FW	Musa Barrow	(1998-11-14) 14 November 1998 (age 24)	28	5	Bologna
	4FW	Lamin Jallow	(1994-07-22) 22 July 1994 (age 28)	19	1	Adanaspor
	4FW	Modou Barrow	(1992-10-13) 13 October 1992 (age 30)	18	2	Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors
	4FW	Bubacarr Jobe	(1994-11-21) 21 November 1994 (age 27)	17	3	Oskarshamns
	4FW	Muhammed Badamosi	(1998-12-27) 27 December 1998 (age 23)	15	1	Čukarički
	4FW	Abdoulie Sanyang	(1999-05-08) 8 May 1999 (age 23)	8	0	Grenoble
	4FW	Dembo Darboe	(1998-08-17) 17 August 1998 (age 24)	5	0	Al-Nasr
	4FW	Kalifa Manneh	(1998-09-02) 2 September 1998 (age 24)	2	0	Perugia

Recent call ups

The following players have also been called up to the Gambia squad within the last twelve months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Sheikh Sibi	(1998-02-21) 21 February 1998 (age 24)	3	0	Virtus Verona	v.  Chad; 29 March, 2022
DF	Pa Modou Jagne (captain)	(1989-12-26) 26 December 1989 (age 32)	43	2	Dietikon	v.  Chad; 29 March, 2022
DF	Noah Sonko Sundberg	(1996-06-06) 6 June 1996 (age 26)	11	0	Levski Sofia	v.  Chad; 29 March, 2022
DF	Mohammed Mbye	(1989-06-18) 18 June 1989 (age 33)	15	0	Hässleholm	v.  Chad; 29 March, 2022
DF	Saidy Janko	(1995-10-22) 22 October 1995 (age 27)	6	0	Bochum	v.  Chad; 29 March, 2022
DF	Leon Guwara	(1996-06-28) 28 June 1996 (age 26)	5	0	Jahn Regensburg	v.  New Zealand, 16 November 2021
DF	Maudo Jarjué	(1997-09-30) 30 September 1997 (age 25)	2	0	Elfsborg	v.  New Zealand, 16 November 2021
MF	Dawda Ngum	(1990-09-02) 2 September 1990 (age 32)	19	0	Ariana	v.  Chad; 29 March, 2022
MF	Ebrima Sohna	(1988-12-14) 14 December 1988 (age 33)	38	3	Fortune	v.  Chad; 29 March, 2022
MF	Ebou Adams	(1996-01-15) 15 January 1996 (age 26)	11	0	Cardiff City	v.  Chad; 29 March, 2022
FW	Ebrima Colley	(2000-02-01) 1 February 2000 (age 22)	16	0	Fatih Karagümrük	v.  Chad; 29 March, 2022
FW	Bubacarr Trawally	(1994-11-10) 10 November 1994 (age 28)	16	1	Hammarby	v.  Chad; 29 March, 2022
FW	Yusupha Njie	(1994-01-03) 3 January 1994 (age 28)	6	0	Boavista	v.  Chad; 29 March, 2022
WD Player withdrew from the squad due to non-injury issue. INJ Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury. PRE Preliminary squad. RET Player has retired from international football. SUS Suspended from the national team.

Records

As of 8 June 2022[9]

Players in bold are still active with Gambia.

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup record										FIFA World Cup qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930	Part of  United Kingdom									Part of  United Kingdom
1934
1938
1950
1954
1958
1962
1966
1970	Did not enter									Did not enter
1974
1978
1982	Did not qualify									2	0	1	1	2	1
1986										2	1	0	1	3	6
1990	Did not enter									Did not enter
1994	Withdrew									Withdrew
1998	Did not qualify									2	1	0	1	2	5
2002										2	0	0	2	0	3
2006										2	1	0	1	2	3
2010										6	2	3	1	6	3
2014										6	1	1	4	4	11
2018										2	0	1	1	2	3
2022										2	0	0	2	1	3
2026	To be determined									To be determined
Total	–	0/22	–	–	–	–	–	–		26	6	6	14	22	38

Africa Cup of Nations

Africa Cup of Nations record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D*	L	GF	GA
1957 to 1963	Part of United Kingdom
1965	Not affiliated to CAF
1968 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
2017	Did not qualify
2019
2021	Quarter-finals	6th	5	3	1	1	4	3
2023	TBD
2025
Total	Quarter-finals	1/33	5	3	1	1	4	3

Honours

Amilcar Cabral Cup :

• Runners-up (3)

References

External links

• Official Gambian federation website

На других языках

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- [en] Gambia national football team

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[ru] Сборная Гамбии по футболу

Сборная Гамбии по футболу представляет Гамбию как в международных матчах, так и в турнирах по футболу. Управляющая организация — Футбольная ассоциация Гамбии.

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