According to the GFF president Mustapha Kebbeh, Caf is accusing The Gambia football body of giving different dates of birth and or documents for Ali Sowe who was among the players Liberia appealed against.
According to Article 37 of Caf regulations on the Under-20 Championship, where a case of deliberate fraud is discovered in player registration, the nation concerned would be suspended from all Caf competitions for two years.
But GFF president, Kebbeh, maintained yesterday that they were taking Caf’s position on Ali Sowe as a misconception “because we as a body did not make a new passport for Ali Sowe though and I am not sure which age was he originally given in previous Caf competitions,’’ Kebbeh said.
News of the latest Caf action has been greeted with indignation and even more outrage. It now means that The Gambia would spend two years in international football hibernation. Commentators yesterday told The Standard that this is the most disturbing time in Gambian football history.
Verdict
Meanwhile, the National Sports Council’s Task Force, set up to the probe the Under-20 disqualification, has presented its report with a strong recommendation for the entire GFF executive to resign, and the technical director, team manager and administrative secretary be sacked. Late yesterday, reports circulated that at least the technical director and the administrative secretary were sacked but the GFF would not confirm this.
The task force said it had found the GFF responsible through negligence leading to embarrassment for the nation and that they had ignored professional advice both in The Gambia and in Liberia.
Reacting to this bit of news, Kebbeh said they had studied the entire content of the task force report and would send their position on it to the National Sports Council. Read the full NSC report on page 15.
By Lamin Cham
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