CAF lift Gambia two-year international ban

CAF lifts Gambia ban

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has officially lifted the two-year international ban it imposed on The Gambia earlier this year, following the latter’s decision of selecting overage players in an under-20 match and allegedly forging player documents.

The country was banned two-years by the continent’s governing body, CAF, shortly after it fielded in five overage players in a 2015 African U-20 Championship qualifier against Liberia in April.

The former Gambia Football Federation (GFF) president Mustapha Kebbeh, under whose executive the country was banned, filed an appeal case but it was thrown out by CAF.

But less than two weeks after his election as president of the GFF, former Gambian sports minister Lamin Kaba Bajo and his executive has succeeded in talking CAF out of their decision and overrule the ban it imposed on the country.

A CAF congratulatory letter signed by its president Issa Hayatou and addressed to Kaba, states: “In line with our exchanges with the Normalization Committee and FIFA, the CAF Executive Committee in its meeting dated September 20th 2014 in Addis Ababa, decided to exceptionally lift the suspension imposed on the Gambia Football Association to participate in CAF competitions for 2 years (decision rendered in April 2014).”

“Such a decision is depending on the fact that all matters of age cheating or other similar and punishable offences should not occur in the future with the Gambia Football Association. CAF counts indeed on each of its members to lead by example and ensure that our regulations are respected across the continent.”

It could be recalled that the Liberia Football Association (LFA) filed an appeal against Gambia for fielding overage players in the first leg of the round qualifier on April 7, 2014 at the Antoinette Tubman Stadium, a game Gambia won 1-0 courtesy of a Bakary Daffeh 35th minute strike.

Gambia won the match but CAF found that Gamtel’s Sampierre Mendy, Casa Sport’s Saloum Faal, Juve Stabia’s Ali Sowe and Real de Banjul duo Bubacarr Sanneh and Bubacarr Trawally were all born in 1994 with the competition’s regulations stating that players have to be born on or after 1 January 1995.

The African governing body said it had found that all five players were born in 1994 and were ineligible to play in the game as only players born from 1995 onwards can play in the competition.

The ban had ripped The Gambia of the right to contest the qualifiers for the 2015 African Nations Cup as well as its clubs for the Champions League and Confederation Cup competitions in 2015 and 2016.

The news will no doubt be received with great joy and relief among Gambian fans taking into consideration the shock and embarrassment the country was plunged into after the imposition of the universal ban.

Since then, the issue has become the topic of football politics in The Gambia, fuelling divisions and losing of confidence in people who matter in the administration of football in the country.

The status quo led to the dissolution of the Mustapha Kebbeh-led executive, ushering in a new Normalisation Committee appointed by the world football governing body, FIFA.

The near-two month Normalisation process culminated into the election of a career Gambian diplomat, Lamin Kaba Bajo during an extra ordinary congress held this month.