By: Isatou Sarr
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has indicated that while all the stadium renovation has met the CAF standards, the state of the playing pitch requires improvement to enable hosting of category 3 matches.
Consequently, The Gambia cannot host the match of 15th November, 2024 at the stadium.
After the inspection of the country’s national stadium, the Confederation stated: “Following CAF’s inspection of independence stadium on the 31st October, 2024, we would like to commend the Government of The Gambia, the Gambia Football Federation (GFF) and the stadium management for the significant improvement across various areas of the facility, including dressing rooms, spectator stands, media zones, hospitality services, and other key structural elements. These enhancements represent a positive step forward in aligning with CAF and FIFA standards.” The letter added: “However, we must emphasize that the overall conditions of the field of play require significant improvement in meeting the standards necessary for hosting Category 3 CAF and FIFA matches. Due to the current quality of the playing field, CAF is unable to approve the stadium for the upcoming match #106 between Gambia and Comoros during the match Day 5 of the AFCON qualifiers for Morocco 2025. To address this issue, CAF is prepared to support GFF by providing a pitch specialist consultant to guide with the necessary preparation to ensure the pitch meets all standards for hosting future senior international matches.”
CAF has pledged to support The Gambia with pitch specialists without any cost for guidance.
