EXCLUSIVE
By Haddy Touray
Sadibou Kamaso, a prominent sports enthusiast and leading promoter of sports in the country, has shifted the blames harps on Gambian Government to the Gambia Football Federation for the poor and unsatisfactory performance of the senior national football team dubbed the Scorpion in major international competitions.
He allegedly stated that the million euros pumped into the accounts of GFF through FIFA Forward Funding could have made meaningful changes in the management and development of football infrastructure in the country.
In an exclusive interview in office in Kanifing estate amid the national male Scorpion failure to collect the six points in the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Ivory Coast and Kenya, he said GFF has neglected the regional football committees to a level that makes them ineffective to run grassroots football in the country.
He observed that the recent failures registered by the senior national team dubbed Scorpions cannot only be associated with the drop in performance of the players or the coaching and technical team.
He added that the drop in performance also extends beyond the construction of a stadium or rehabilitation of the facilities, but the total negligence of the development of grassroots football is the case of concern.
“I don’t think it is a drop in the performance of national team players, I keep saying that the challenge that we have extends beyond the construction of a mere stadium and rehabilitation of facilities. I think what should be done is to cultivate the culture of grassroots football more importantly across all regions of the country,” Kamaso told The Voice in an exclusive interview.
He added: “We keep measuring the success of Gambian football with the national team’s qualifications in the Afcon, which in my opinion is a wrong approach because if you say we succeeded because we qualify for the Afcon, then are you saying now we have failed because we did not qualify?”
He observed that to gauge the success of Gambian football one must first take a critical look at the football ecosystem of the country, noting that one must assess how many local players are making it to the national team, how many local players can fend for themselves and able to benefit their families from the income they make through football among other yardsticks.
“The yardstick we should use to measure the success of Gambian football is to look at the football ecosystem in the country by assessing how many local base players are making it directly to the national team, how many local players can sustain themselves financially through gaining meaningful salaries, is the football ecosystem able to employ people, are people able to get benefits from football. Football is no more a child play game, it’s a business now, so if we have an ecosystem with a multi-billion-dollar industry and yet Gambia is not making use of it then it is very appalling,” Kamaso further explained.
Kamaso also disclosed that Gambia Football Federation has time and time again stated that it is not their responsibility to build stadium for such is the responsibility of the Government and local Governments, arguing that there are so many other football federations across globe and Africa that have judiciously used their FIFA Forward Funds to build a state of the earth football stadium in their countries without waiting for the government of local councils.
“FIFA understands that not all governments are financially strong enough to build national stadiums, which is why they came up with the idea of giving financial support to football federations. There are so many countries that have built their football stadium through FIFA Forward Funding, and nothing is preventing the Gambia Football Federation (GFF) to use such fundings to build a new stadium with support from the government,” Kamaso pointed out.
“CAF is giving the Gambia Football Federation $ 400,000 every year, and FIFA is giving $ 1 million every year for four years plus another $2millions, which they have now increased by 25%, and if you add all this FIFA supports, it will add up to $ 8 million. All GFF needs to do, just like other countries if they want to build a new stadium, is to draw up their plans and write to FIFA. If FIFA is satisfied with their plans and their audited accounts are intact, they will surely sponsor them to build a new stadium,” he further explained.
He further disclosed that Mauritania and Liberia successfully built their stadium through the FIFA Forward Funds without waiting on the governments.
He noted that this could be replicated in the country if GFF is focused on its core mandate of developing football in this country.
“You cannot operate or run football successfully without getting government support or working hand in hand with the government. What the GFF should understand is that there is no such thing like autonomy in football, what we have is called negotiated autonomy because whatever funding GFF is receiving from CAF or FIFA is received on behalf of The Gambia, which makes it paramount for them to work hand in hand with government and develop the sports,” Kamaso further highlighted.
He added: “Just because of lack of transparency and corrupt practices within the system, GFF is not willing to work hand in glove with the Ministry of Youth and Sports to develop sporting facilities in the country. And anytime government want to scrutinise the federation, it usually described such action as interference from government even though all the money GFF is receiving is on behalf of the Gambian people, this should not be a problem if we are transparent and corrupt free…
He urged the Gambia Football Federation to understand that they need to work with the government. They should also understand that the government has a right to scrutinise them to know where they are putting the funds received from CAF and GFF, and this should not be seen as a witch-hunt but for transparency purposes only.
“It should never be a problem for the government to scrutinise GFF; hence, they are annually receiving millions of dollars from CAF and FIFA on behalf of the Gambia people. We have seen other non-governmental organisations submitting their audited financial statements to the Ministry of Interior and what makes it a crime for government to know how much is coming into GFF accounts,” Kamaso emphasised.
