Kairo News has been informed about the Gambia government’s readiness to lift suspension on officials of the Gambia Football Federation (GFF) executive. This followed a meeting involving the GFF executive and the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
This development comes after the world football governing body FIFA threatened to ban the Gambia for meddling its fingers into activities of the national football federation whose officials are elected by clubs. The suspension and subsequent arrest and detention of GFF President Mustapha Kebbeh and his team had angered FIFA that threatened to ban the Gambia from partaking in international football. FIFA called for the lifting of suspensions of GFF officials and the holding of an extraordinary elective congress.
FIFA had initially given May 15 to the Gambia government to comply or else face consequences. That deadline has been extended to May 20. A ban on the Gambia would deny a top Gambian referee Papa Gassama the opportunity to officiate the FIFA world cup matches.
Gambian fans were thrown into disbelief after the Confederation of African Football imposed a two-year ban on the national team for fielding in overage players during the Gambia-Liberia match. The Gambia government once again intervened with force, blaming the GFF officials of negligence.
Opposition leader Lawyer Ousainou Darboe blamed the government for its mishandling of the GFF debacle.
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