The Gambia national women’s team is just two steps away from qualifying for the Africa Women Nations Cup to be played in Morocco later this year. The women’s continental title is as treasured as the men’s one which ended in Cameroon two weeks ago with Gambia reaching the quarterfinal. The Gambian players must eliminate Cameroon in the tie which starts in Yaounde this afternoon. Coached by Mariama Sowe, the women’s national team has a blend of talents from the local league and a few from overseas and has been tasked to avoid defeat tonight and go for the kill in Banjul on February 23. The winner of the tie will qualify to the Afcon in Morocco later this year. Celebrated striker Adama Tamba the country’s all-time female leading scorer will feature alongside FC Luzern’s Haleema Hamilton Froiland and Ida Mbye, both based in Europe. The team, that is made up of 19 local based players and 4 professionals also include GFF Executive Committee member Alhagie Faye as head of delegation and Sang Ndong, technical director (GFF) as a technical adviser.
The Africa Women Cup of Nations (known as the African Women’s Championship until 2015) is an international women’s football competition held every two years and sanctioned by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). It was first contested in 1991, but was not held biennially until 1998. Nigeria is the most successful nation in the tournament’s history, having won a record 11 titles, meaning they have won all but two of the previous tournaments. The two tournaments not won by Nigeria were both won by Equatorial Guinea. For both those times, Equatorial Guinea hosted the competition. Ghana hosted the tournament in 2018.[1]
The competition has served as a qualifying tournament for the Fifa Women’s World Cup every other tournament since its inception in 1991.
