History: Gambia national football team

The Gambia national football team, nicknamed The Scorpions, is the national team of Gambia and is controlled by the Gambia Football Association. Until 1965, the team and the country were known as British Gambia. It has never qualified for the World Cup or the Africa Cup of Nations finals.

Under the name British Gambia, the team played their first ever game on 5 December 1962, beating neighboring Senegal 3-2 at home in a friendly. In April 1963 the team entered the L'Amitié tournament in Senegal, a competition mainly for French-speaking nations. They were drawn in a group with France's amateur team, the Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) and Gabon. Their first match was lost 5-1 to the French amateurs on 11 April. The Gambia drew 2-2 with the Upper Volta on 13 April, and had the same result the very next day versus Gabon. The Gambia did not advance to the next round.

After the tournament in Senegal, The Gambia did not play another match until 16 November 1968, when they travelled to Sierra Leone to play its team in a friendly and lost 2-1. They played again in Sierra Leone in The Gambia's next match on 24 April 1971 and the hosts won 3-1. On 2 May 1971 The Gambia travelled to Guinea for a friendly and lost 4-2. On 14 May 1972 the The Gambia returned to Guinea for their first African Games qualifier and lost 8-0 and was knocked out.

In 1975 The Gambia entered its first qualification campaign for the football at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Canada. They were drawn in a qualifier against Guinea, and lost the first leg 1-0 at home on 27 April 1975. The second leg was lost 6-0 in Guinea on 1 June as Guinea advanced 7-0 on aggregate.

In August 1975, The Gambia entered their first qualification for the African Cup of Nations, with the aim of reaching the 1976 finals in Ethiopia. They were drawn in a two-legged qualifier against Morocco and lost the first leg 3-0 away on 10 August. They lost by the same score in their home leg on 24 August and Morocco advanced 6-0 on aggregate.

After the qualification campaign for the 1976 finals, The Gambia played their first match against a full European side, losing a home friendly 4-1 to Denmark on 30 January 1977.

Gambia Football Achievements

Amilcar Cabral Cup :

·         3 Times Runners-up

World Cup record

• 1930 to 1978 – Did not enter
• 1982 to 1986 – Did not qualify
• 1990 – Did not enter
• 1994 – Withdrew
• 1998 to 2010 – Did not qualify

Africa Cup of Nations record

• 1957 to 1974 – Did not enter
• 1976 – Did not qualify
• 1978 – Did not enter
• 1980 to 1988 – Did not qualify
• 1990 – Withdrew
• 1992 – Did not qualify
• 1994 – Did not enter
• 1996 – Withdrew during qualifying
• 1998 – Banned for withdrawing in 1996
• 2000 – Withdrew
• 2002 to 2013 – Did not qualify