Gambian national soccer team

Gambia

Nickname (s)	The Scorpions
Association	Gambia Football Federation
confederacy	CAF
Head coach	Tom Saintfiet (since 2018)
captain	Abdou Jammeh
Home stadium	Independence Stadium
FIFA code	GAM
FIFA rank	159. (1015 points) (as of July 16, 2020)
First jersey Second jersey
statistics
First international match Gambia 3-2 Senegal ( Banjul , Gambia ; 1962)
Biggest win Gambia 6-0 Lesotho ( Banjul , Gambia ; October 12, 2002)
Biggest defeat Guinea 8-0 Gambia ( Guinea ; May 14 , 1972 )
(Status: unknown)

The national team at a qualifying match in Burkina Faso

The Gambian men's national soccer team is the national team of Gambia and is organized by the Gambia Football Federation . The team, also known as The Scorpions , has never competed in a World Cup or African Championship.

history

In qualifying for the 2006 World Cup, the team was defeated in the first round against the team from Liberia with an overall result of 2: 3 and thus could not qualify.

On May 10, 2014, the senior national team and all junior national teams were excluded from all continental competitions, including qualification for the Africa Cup 2015 , for two years by the African Federation after five players with forged passports appeared in the U-20 national team .

Trainer

Sang Ndong was the national team coach several times over a ten-year period before he was dismissed from the association in 2003. The position remained vacant until September 2006, when the German ex- Bundesliga professional Antoine “Tony” Hey took over the team. He served until April 2007, when they separated due to differences in pay. The Spaniard José Martínez then trained the team. From May 2008 the Belgian Paul Put was coach of the national team; he should be assisted by the previous interim coach Peter Bonu Johnson , who resigned from his new role. The contract with Put was terminated on October 31, 2011, the reason given was the failure to qualify for the 2012 African Cup of Nations. Peter Bonu Johnson took over the team as head coach.

In May 2012 Bonu Johnson was replaced by the previous assistant coach, the Italian Luciano Mancini . Bonu again became an assistant coach. Mancini was supposed to oversee Gambia in qualifying for the 2014 World Cup , but was replaced by his predecessor Bonu Johnson in June 2013. In May 2015 the Swiss Raoul Savoy took over the office, which he gave up again in December 2015. He was followed again in February 2016 by Sang Ndong.

List of national coaches

1952-1953	RC Roscoe (?)
1953-1962	Ousman Saho
1962-1965	Pa Louis Prom
1965-1968	Francis Eku Forbes
1968-1975	Moses Trinn
1975-1988	Cherno Barra Touray (* 1944)
1978-1983	Kabba "MI" Jallow († 2017)
1984-1986	Saihou Sarr
1986-1987	Momodou "Biri Biri" Njie (1948–2020) (Coach Kobna Zone II)
1987-1988	Juan Rotriges Chanse
1988-1991	no active football at this time
1991-1991	Kashimawo Laloko (Nigeria; Ebrima Bojang Brikama)
1991-1992	Alhagie Sillah
1992-1993	Sang Ndong (* 1957)
1993-1995	Alhagie Sillah
1995-1996	Sang Ndong
1996-1996	John Hansen
27/06/1997-10/07/1997	Colin Murphy
1998-2000	dissolved
16/09/1999	Tori Lennerson
Sponsored by German Tour FTI (2 months)	Rudolf "Rudi" May (1953-2015)
2001-2002	Sang Ndong
2002-2004	Alhagie Sillah
2005-2006	Alagie Sarr
08/05/2006 (1 month)	Musa Njie
08/08/2006–22/04/2007	Antoine "Tony" Hey (* 1970)
22/04/2007–06/05/2008	Joseph Reveles (?)
18/05/2008–31/10/2011	Paul Put (* 1956)
01/01/2012–05/2012	Peter Bonu Johnson (1963-2019)
05 / 2012-06 / 2013	Luciano Mancini
06/2013–05/2015	Peter Bonu Johnson
05/2015–12/2015	Raoul Savoy (* 1973)
2016	Sang Ndong
since 2018	Tom Saintfiet (* 1973)

Known players

A list of all national players can be found under List of Gambian national football players .

In the 2007/08 season, seven players from the Gambian national soccer team played in Germany . These were:

• Mohammed Camara ( FSV Ludwigshafen-Oggersheim , Regionalliga Süd )
• Kemo Ceesay ( 1. FC Lok Stendal , Association League Saxony-Anhalt )
• Pa Malick Joof ( VfB Lübeck , Regionalliga Nord )
• Matthew Mendy ( KFC Uerdingen 05 , Oberliga Nordrhein )
• Abdou-Rahman Njie ( SpVgg Bayern Hof , Bayernliga )
• Momar Njie ( BFC Preussen 1894 , Oberliga Nordost )
• Timo Uster ( Rot-Weiß Oberhausen , Regionalliga Nord )

Timo Uster is a native of Berlin and a German citizen. His parents are also Germans. However, Uster has Gambian grandparents which enabled him to play for Gambia.

13 other Gambian national players were active in European leagues in 2007/08:

• Jatto Ceesay ( Omniworld Almere , Netherlands )
• Kebba Ceesay ( Djurgårdens IF , Sweden )
• Aziz Corr Nyang ( Assyriska Föreningen , Sweden )
• Modou Jagne ( SCR Altach , Austria )
• Latiff Janneh ( SC Wielsbeke , Belgium )
• Mustapha Jarju ( Lierse SK , Belgium )
• Assan Jatta ( Lierse SK , Belgium )
• Pa Saikou Kujabi ( SV Ried , Austria )
• Ebrahima Sawaneh ( KSK Beveren , Belgium )
• Ebou Sillah ( MVV Maastricht , Netherlands )
• Edrissa Sonko ( Walsall FC , England )
• Pa Ousman Sonko ( Red Bull Salzburg II , Austria )
• Pa Dembo Touray ( Djurgårdens IF , Sweden )

Other Gambian players with European experience are:

• Simon Badjie (including AC Pro Sesto , Italy )
• Dawda Bah (including KPV Kokkola , Finland )
• Arthur Gómez (including Royal Antwerp , Belgium and Manchester United Reserves , England )
• Momodou Loum (including Högaborgs BK , Sweden )
• Seyfo Soley (including KRC Genk , Belgium )

The former Senegalese professional footballer Babacar N'Diaye received a request from the Gambian association for an international match against Saudi Arabia at the beginning of January 2007 , but refused.

successes

Soccer world championships

• 1930 to 1978 - did not participate
• 1982 - did not qualify
• 1986 - did not qualify
• 1990 - did not participate
• 1994 - participation withdrawn
• 1998 to 2022 - not qualified

African Championship

• 1957 to 1974 - did not take part
• 1976 - did not qualify
• 1978 - did not participate
• 1980 to 1988 - not qualified
• 1990 - participation withdrawn
• 1992 - did not qualify
• 1994 - did not participate
• 1996 - Participation withdrew during qualification round
• 1998 - excluded due to withdrawn participation in 1996
• 2000 - participation withdrawn
• 2002 to 2013 - not qualified
• 2015 - disqualified
• 2017 - did not qualify
• 2019 - did not qualify

African Nations Championship

• 2009 - did not qualify
• 2011 - did not participate
• 2014 - did not participate
• 2016 - did not qualify
• 2018 - did not qualify

offspring

Independence Stadium

U-17 national soccer team

→ Main article : Gambian national football team (U-17 juniors)

In contrast to the men's team, the U-17 national team, called the Baby Scorpions , has already had tournament successes. In May 2005, she won the final of the U-17 African Championship against the Ghanaian selection 1-0, making it the first time ever to win Africa. The success also meant qualifying for the U-17 World Cup in 2005 , which took place in Peru . There the Gambian U-17 national team defeated the reigning world champion, the Brazilian U-17 , in a grandiose start and also won the second game. In the third game, however, she was defeated and was unhappy eliminated.

The Gambia's government and the population were enthusiastic about the success and celebrated the offspring who had drawn such attention to themselves.

In 2009 the Gambian U-17 became African champions for a second time.

U-20 national soccer team

→ Main article : Gambian national soccer team (U-20 men)

The U-20 were able to qualify for the U-20 World Cup in Canada in 2007 , where they reached the round of 16 by beating Portugal, but failed there because of Austria.

See also

• Soccer in the Gambia
• Gambian women's national soccer team
• Gambian national football team (U-17 juniors)
• Gambian national football team (U-20 men)

Web links

• http://www.rsssf.com/ International games since 1962
• Gambia Football Association (GFA) portal at www.fifa.com

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The FIFA / Coca-Cola World Ranking. In: fifa.com. July 16, 2020, accessed July 21, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Gambia suspended from all competitions for two years. cafonline.com, May 3, 2014, accessed August 16, 2015 . 
3. ↑ Gambia sack coach BBC of December 28, 2003.
4. ↑ Gambia appoint German coach. BBC, September 26, 2006, accessed August 18, 2015 . 
5. ↑ Gambia appoint new coach. BBC, April 25, 2007, accessed August 18, 2015 . 
6. ↑ GFA Finally Sign Coach Paul Put from May 21, 2008.
7. ↑ Bonu Johnson resigns. (No longer available online.) The Daily Observer , May 22, 2008, archived from the original on August 18, 2015 ; accessed on August 18, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ↑ COACH PUT'S CONTRACT TERMINATED ( Memento of the original from August 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. The Daily Observer dated November 1, 2011. 
9. ↑ Bonu Johnson's appointment elicits mixed reactions ( Memento of the original from August 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. The Daily Observer January 3, 2012. 
10. ↑ Italian APPOINTED Scorpions coach: Bonu relegated ( Memento of the original from August 17, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. The Daily Observer of May 29, 2012. 
11. ^ Bonu Johnson takes over Scorpions top job, Mancini relegated. (No longer available online.) Gambiasports.gm, June 4, 2013, archived from the original on September 14, 2013 ; accessed on August 16, 2015 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
12. ^ Raoul Savoy unveiled to local media as coach of the Gambia. bbc.com, May 14, 2015, accessed August 16, 2015 . 
13. ^ Former international Sang Ndong named new Gambia coach. bbc.com , February 3, 2016, accessed April 10, 2018 . 
14. ^ GFA website ( memento of October 19, 2013 in the Internet Archive ), accessed May 2012, archived in the Internet Archive .