THE GAMBIA PREMIER LEAGUE IS BORN

As stakeholders validate Business Plan for professional league

The Gambia Football Federation (GFF) met with key stakeholders at the Metzy Residence Hotel in Kololi on Thursday, July 2, 2026, to validate the business plan for the proposed Gambia Professional Football League.

The high-level session, presided over by GFF President Lamin Kaba Bajo, brought together representatives from the Ministry of Youth and Sports, government, GIEPA, football clubs, the media, and the broader sports community.

Welcoming attendees, GFF General Secretary Lamin M Jassey thanked the executive team for driving the initiative. Reflecting on the evolution of the domestic game, Mr Jassey noted that the progress achieved under the current administration made transitioning from an amateur system to a professional structure both necessary and timely.

In his opening address, President Lamin Kaba Bajo commended stakeholders for their commitment to the project. He recalled that the GFF Executive Committee resolved a year ago to establish a professional league to benefit clubs, attract corporate investment, and commercialise Gambian football.

Mr Bajo highlighted that Professor Muhammed Mustapha Fanneh was selected as the consultant through a transparent tender process, followed by extensive consultations with government ministries, trade and tourism bodies, and sports sector actors.

“The introduction of a professional league is a major milestone in modernising Gambian football,” Mr Bajo stated, emphasising that professionalism would boost player market value, create jobs, and contribute to national socio-economic growth. He thanked the government for its continuous backing and urged participants to actively refine what he termed “the stakeholders’ document.”

Mahmud Lamin Jawla, the Acting Executive Director of the National Sports Council—who represented the Minister of Youth and Sports—called the initiative a collective triumph for the Gambian football family. He praised the highly inclusive process used to build the blueprint.

Mr Jawla noted that the Plan’s greatest strength lies in its comprehensive implementation framework, designed to ensure sustainability while creating tangible value for clubs, players, and fans. He stressed that a successful rollout will depend on robust partnerships between the government, the GFF, clubs, investors, and the wider community.

Presenting the document, titled “A Blueprint for Professionalising Football in The Gambia,” Professor Fanneh shared comparative analyses from established leagues, such as the Ghana Premier League, South African Premier Soccer League, the Spanish La Liga, amongst others. He detailed his wide-ranging consultations, which included GFF officials, GIEPA, the Turkish Ambassador, and the Ministries of Trade, and Finance, as well as the Gambia Revenue Authority.

The blueprint proposes strict governance, administrative, financial, and technical criteria for participating clubs, backed by a Strategic Implementation Plan. Professor Fanneh also outlined a five-year resource mobilisation strategy and revealed that stakeholder consultations overwhelmingly favoured naming the new competition the Gambia Premier League (GPL).

The presentation concluded with an interactive Q&A session, followed by plenary discussions and group work to finalise the key action points.