Jammeh E.K. Bojang, the Secretary-General of the Gambia Football Association (GFA) on Monday, at his office at the new GFA Building told Pointsport that after close observation, the FA have decided to cancel all the proposed friendly international games for the senior national team

“We have closely observed it and decided to cancel all the proposed friendly internationals,” he stated.

Mr. Bojang added that FA was fortunate to be linked up with Congo, noting that the contract document could not facilitate friendly internationals.

“When we signed the contract document and the match doesn’t hold for whatever reason, the GFA will pay 50 thousand dollars to the Congolese Football Association,” he disclosed.

The Congolese Football Association, Mr. Bojang went on to explain, had pulled out of the proposed friendly international match, due to the late arrival of the receipt.

“The late receipt actually saw Congo pulling out of the proposed friendly international and then we received information from Coach Paul Put, regarding the proposed friendly international match for the senior national team,” he stated.

The Coach, Jammeh continued was given the green light by the FA to organise the friendly international matches in Belgium and Holland, noting that he even sent an email to all the players informing them to assemble in Belgium on 2nd September 2009, before proceeding to Oman where the friendly game was supposed to take place which would be difficult for the players, due to limited time.

The most importantly, according to Jammeh, is the resources. He said when the ministry was contacted on the issue, they said the only money they had on them was salaries for the coaches and few other things.

“The amount of 30-35 thousand Euros that the Coach is asking for these proposed friendly games is not available at the GFA level,” he stated. As a result, Mr. Jammeh said all the friendly games would be cancelled, adding that the Coach should come back to enable them start planning properly.

Mr. Bojang further spoke about the importance of the friendly international matches, noting that it helps a lot as far as FIFA rankings is concerned. But he was quick to add that a proper arrangement should be made in order to be involved in the friendly matches.

He maintained that we cannot organise the friendly game for the sake of just kicking the ball. According to him, there is nothing that can stop them from getting direct contact , if Oman wants to have a friendly international game with the Gambia.

“We just received the information from the Coach that they are going to Oman,” he stated.