Gambia national football team

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.[3] 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.[4]

On 12 October 2002, the team got their biggest ever victory in international competition, a 6–0 victory against Lesotho. [5]

In May 2014, the Gambia was banned from all CAF competitions for two years after deliberately falsifying players' ages.[6]

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.

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.[7]

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

  Win   Draw   Loss   Fixture

2022

Guinea-Bissau  v  Gambia

20 November Friendly	Guinea-Bissau	0–0	Gambia	Antalya, Türkiye
15:00 UTC+3		Report		Stadium: Ekodizayn Spor Kompleksi Referee: Melis Özçiğdem (Türkiye)

2023

Mali  v  Gambia

24 March 2023 AFCON qualification	Mali	2–0	Gambia	Bamako, Mali
19:00 UTC±0	K. Doumbia 3' A. Traoré 90+5'	Report		Stadium: Stade du 26 Mars Referee: Jean Ouattara (Burkina Faso)

Gambia  v  Mali

28 March 2023 AFCON qualification	Gambia	1–0	Mali	Casablanca, Morocco
16:00 UTC±0	O. Colley 79'	Report		Stadium: Stade Mohamed V Referee: Kouassi Attisso Attiogbe (Togo)

South Sudan  v  Gambia

14 June 2023 AFCON qualification	South Sudan	2–3	Gambia	Ismailia, Egypt
15:00 UTC+2	Yuel 21' Chol 90+1'	Report	Angier 4 (og)' Jallow 62' Hamza 90+6'	Stadium: Suez Canal Stadium Referee: Dahane Beida (Mauritania)

Gambia  v  Congo

10 September 2023 AFCON qualification	Gambia	2–2	Congo	Marrakesh, Morocco
20:00 UTC+1	Minteh 79' Badamosi 90'	Report	Makouta 30' Ganvoula 45+1' (pen.)	Stadium: Stade de Marrakech Referee: Mohamed Maarouf Eid Mansour (Egypt)

Burundi  v  Gambia

November 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification

Burundi

v

Gambia

Gambia  v  Ivory Coast

November 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification

Gambia

v

Ivory Coast

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.[8]

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

As of 14 June 2023[10]

Players in bold are still active with Gambia.

• Amilcar Cabral Cup
  • Runners-up (3): 1980, 1985, 2001

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Gambia national football team.

• Official website of the Gambian Football Federation
• Gambia at CAF
• Gambia at FIFA