By Alhagie Babou Jallow
Leagues and clubs are the lifeblood of football. Over the years the Kaba-led executive has a roadmap to ensure that not only football is played in the Greater Banjul Area but across the length and breadth of the country. The 1st and 2nd division leagues for both male and female are strengthened and 3rd division leagues are established in all 7 regions of the country.
Clubs are supported both in terms of finance, materials and capacity-building programs all geared toward professionalising the league.
National League Development
The GFF said it is committed to expanding the domestic first and second-division leagues by giving it a truly national character.
The Director of Communications and Marketing Gambia Football Federation Mr. Baboucarr Camara stated that every region has a team in the national league, unlike before.
“The current leadership took over in 2014 when the league didn’t play beyond the borders of Brikama.We committed ourselves to increase the number of teams in both the men’s and women’s first & second division leagues and this has been done consistently,” he noted.
In the most recent season, he said that the men’s first division was increased from 14 to 16 teams while the second division also witnessed an addition of two or more teams adding up to 18 teams.
Furthermore, the women’s first division was also increased from six teams to eight teams while the second division increased to 10 teams.
Director Camara further highlighted that the federation continues to build the capacities of teams and their personnel, especially with the usage of the online player registration system (PRS).
“We’ve also introduced an online system that deals with both local and international transfers called the Transfer Matching System and trained 45 match commissioners/coordinators to be able to cope with the increase in the number of matches that comes with the expansion of the league.” He explained.
UEFA Assist LDP
On the of UEFA supports Camara noted that, Through UEFA support for league development, he said that they continue to build the capacities of the administrators in club licensing, income generation, governance and operations, financial management, digital social media, and brand.
A successful three-day workshop was held at the National Technical Training Centre where all 16 Division One clubs were represented and was conducted by UEFA experts. The drive is part of our efforts to professionalise the league and make it financially independent.
Support to Clubs
Talking about support to clubs the Communications Director Camara explained that the federation continues to support all clubs in the National League both male and female to defray some of their running cost and build the capacities of officials through the CARM project in their drive to professionalise the league.
Since the inception of Team Kaba in 2014, the federation ensured that no member pays a registration fee to the Football House for any of the competitions, in addition, clubs are supported annually through the approved budget for preparatory money and transport support. In the 2021/22 season, the following supports are being implemented.
