The Gambia and Mauritania’s proposed international friendly has been called off after the two sides were last night billed to face each other in the preliminary fixtures of the inaugural edition of CAF African Nations Championship taking place in Ivory Coast, Observer Sports has gathered.

The Scorpions were to host their west African counterparts in an international football friendly on March 26. However, the proposed friendly will now turn a real match when The Gambia host Mauritania in Banjul, for the first leg preliminary tie of the Abidjan Championship.

The game is scheduled between March 28 and March 30, 2008. The Scorpions will travel to Mauritania two weeks after for the return leg.

The winner in the two-leg encounters will face Guinea in the second round qualifier tie scheduled between April 2 and April 4, 2008.

The newly introduced tournament is a continental event similar to the African Nations Cup, but only that the competition is this time strictly for local-based players.

The qualifying round of the tournament will feature forty teams, from which eight, including the host side, will finally qualify to play in the finals of the competition in the former French colony, Ivory Coast, between January and February, 2009.