Gambia national football team

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.

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.

Home stadium

Independence Stadium (Bakau) 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.

Gambia Football Achievements

World Cup record

2018 FIFA World Cup qualification

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

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

Africa Cup of Nations record

2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualification

The draw put Gambia in group M with South Africa, Cameroon and Mauritania. The team drew their first game away in South Africa 0–0, but lost their first home game against Cameroon 0–1 thanks to a goal by Vincent Aboubakar.

In the double-header of qualifiers in March 2016, Gambia lost 1–2 against Mauritania in Nouakchott which featured a first international goal for Mustapha Carayol before drawing 0–0 against the same team four days later in Banjul. Gambia were beaten 0-4 at home against South Africa in June 2016 before playing their last qualification match away against Cameroon in September of the same year, losing 0-2.

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. 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.

Current squad

The following players were called up for the friendly match against Zambia on 30 May and the 2017 African Cup of Nations qualification match against South Africa on 4 June 2016.

Recent call-ups

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