Gambia U-20 withdrawn from qualifiers
- Tuesday, 07 August 2012
- Written by Modou Lamin Beyai
The Gambia Football Association Normalization Committee have decided to withdraw from the qualifiers of the U-20 African Championships to be held in Algeria next year because of ‘financial problems’.
The Vice-Chairman of the Normalization Committee Alhaji Omar Sey confirmed this to Gambia Sports Online by saying, “Yes I can confirm that we have withdrawn from the qualifiers and we have written to CAF, we got a reply from them acknowledging the receipt of our letter.”
“We don’t have money and trying to meet all the commitments entered by the previous administration but right now, we are facing a serious financial struggle.”
The withdrawal comes as the U-20 team are said to be boycotting training because of the non-payment of their match allowances of [D5000] ahead of their return game against Morocco in Gambia.
Sey added that the tie against the Moroccans would have cost them [the FA] D2000000 [two million Dalasis] in which he said it is money that they cannot afford at present.
It could be recalled that the Gambia Under 20 side were beaten 4-0 by Morocco in Rabat on July 28 with the return leg in Banjul scheduled for August 12 and with the withdrawal of the team, Morocco now have a bye into the next round of qualifiers scheduled for October. The 2013 African U-20 Championship will take place from March 16-30 in Algeria.