The task force that was established by the Ministry of Youth and Sports to look into the issue of upgrading The Gambia’s only Independence Stadium to CAF standard and requirements, has presented its finding to the ministry at a ceremony held in Banjul.
During the presentation, the minister reminded that the task force committee was set up by the Ministry, headed by the Permanent Secretary Mr Saikou K. Sanyang, who worked together with personnel from the Ministry of Works, stadium management, National Sports Council and other relevant stakeholders to do a situation analysis and needs assessment.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF), in a letter dated 16th February 2022 banned The Gambia’s Independence Stadium from hosting CAF A type competitions for failure to meet the required standards. The government through MOYS, has since invested an amount of 10 million Dalasis for its renovation.
Renovation and maintenance had started and authorities were able to get temporal approval for the use of the stadium during the AFCON qualifiers for Cameroon 2021.
They are now requested to, among other things: Re-grass the football ground; put modern substitute benches; provide floodlights with 1200 lux and a standby generator for evening matches; complete renovation and expansion of the dressing rooms; provide modern first aid and treatment facilities for players and officials, seats for individual spectators; and equip media and raining facilities
According to reports, the stadium is old and out-dated and lacks multiple CAF stadium requirements
There has never been any major maintenance and rehabilitation of the facilities since it was built in 1983. In this vein, there is a need for massive investment to meet the required standard by CAF which the Ministry of Youth and Sports is facilitating before the commencement of the group stage qualifiers in June 2022 to enable the September home matches to be hosted at the stadium.
