2018 UNDER REVIEW, WHAT ARE THE MOMENTS?

As we bid fare well to 2018, and say a warm welcome to 2019, we look at some of the key moments in Gambian football within the last 12 months. Starting with Gambia football federation elections.

GFF executives earned another term in office, alas not without controversy and foul play allegations by the opposition camp. Lamin Kaba Bajo was reelected for another term in office by stakeholders, but that was after members of Malick Sillah camp decided to boycott the election, withdrawing their candidacy on the eve of the elections. However the election went ahead as the electoral body said they did not received any ‘formal notification’ from Malick’s camp, and kaba was again the president of Gambia football federation.

Lamin Kaba Bajo, GFF President

In Gambia national domestic division one league campaign consistency had been a problem for the teams but that was not the case with Gamtel football club as they proved the most consistent team to clinch the 2018 league cup title.

While the football federation (FF) cup and the super cup titles were snatched by the ‘khaki boys’ Gambia armed forces who appeared to have knew better than all the other teams, how to compete in a knockout format competition.

Gambia Armed Forces with the 2018 super cup title

In a similar competition but different gender, the FF cup holder’s Interior female team proved too superior for the league champions Red Scorpions as they thumped them by two goals to nothing to lift the female super cup crown.

Interior Female Team

The ‘super nawettan’ zonal championship has brought some highs and lows for the zones. Serrekunda East whose last triumph came in 2009 before the 2018 edition, again justified their status as the movers and shakers of the competition with the 2018 title in the cabin.

Many pundits did not see Serrekunda east having the squad to challenge fellow big guns at the start of the tournament. However, the team spirit of serrekunda as well as the cohesion and dynamic were no match to the rest of the zones.

In a well attended final against the highly fancied Brikama team, East found themselves behind after 46 minutes, but responded well to take the contest into penalty shootout where they triumphed 4 – 3 to carried home the super nawettan accolade.

Serrekunda East, 2018 'Super Nawettan' champions

November 17, 2018 put a smile on the face of the Gambia national team supporters as the scorpions secured first win in five years with a 3 – 1 home win against Benin.

The path has not been any smooth against Benin, especially when the scorpions found themselves behind. No doubt aware that the critics of his tactic were sharpening their mouths for further criticism, coach Tom Saintfiet threw more forwards to the games and fortunately for him, all those plans were eclipsed by a spirited come back with two of the substitute vindicating the coach as they scored to help the scorpions to a 3 – 1 comeback win.

Gambia national team

When it comes to football in the country, the females received less attention. However, the queen scorpions of the Gambia came so close to achieving a feat that the male team has never achieved, as they nearly qualify for African cup of nation beating Burkina Faso on penalties in the process, it was the super powers of African female football, Nigeria, who stood between the Gambia female team and their dreams in the final hurdle of the qualifying rounds as they defeated them 7 – 0 on aggregate in a double legged tie.

Gambia national female team

The only success for the Gambia in 2018 came in the WAFU U20 tournament in Liberia, where Gambia U20 beats Liberia 2 - 1 on May 5th to registered a major success for the nation in 2018 calendar and one major European transfer for a Gambian player as Babucarr Sanneh moved from FC Midtjylland to RSC Anderlecht for a record 8 million euro’s.

Overall 2018 has not been a fanciful year for the country in the area of football from the administrations down to the performance of the country as a whole. Footballers and football fans will be hoping for a much better improvement in all aspects.

From all of us at g-sportsnetwork we say happy new year to you all.