The Gambia’s football governing body says the Confederation of African Football has given provisional clearance to the country;s only stadium to host international matches.
Since 2021, the Independence Stadium has been under a CAF ban which meant that The Gambia’s national team, the Scorpions have been playing their home matches away from the venue.
Located in the seaside town of Bakau, the stadium has since undergone extensive renovations running into hundreds of millions of dalasis.
The Scorpions are thus cleared to host their first international home match to Somalia in qualifiers for the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON KE-TZ-UG 27).
”The Gambia Football Federation (GFF) is happy to inform that, after a recent on-site inspection, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has officially granted temporary Category 3 approval for the Independence Stadium in Bakau for September 2026”.
GFF president Lamin Kaba Bajo described it as ”a momentous victory for Gambian football and a joyous day for our nation”.
Bajo said ”playing on home soil in front of our incredible, patriotic fans gives our Scorpions the ultimate home advantage”.
Other national football stakeholders described the partial lifting of the ban as a ‘significant milestone for the development of the sport in The Gambia. CAF said it may assign an inspector to attend September matchday against Somalia to assess the Independence Stadium’s operational readiness before, during, and after kickoff.