Milan FC receive philanthropic gesture

Yankuba Vermeulen, a Dutch national and Manager of Gambia Sports Foundation and Sportswear for Gambia, on Monday donated sets of jerseys, socks, gloves and footballs to Milan FC, a team that plays its community football in the Serrekunda East Sports Development Organisation Zone.
Vermeulen, who is currently sponsoring 15 teams across The Gambia, said at the presentation in Tallinding: "This is the second year that I am donating to Milan FC."
Widely known in The Gambia as Yankuba, Vermeulen said he would like to do more for Milan FC, such as building a young team for Milan and developing an academy for them. The academy, according to Yankuba, would take into consideration the needs of male and female players, and will be given a seed funding to kick start.
He also proposed to the team to change its name to Black Lions FC at the beginning of next season, as he aims to take them to third division qualifiers and see them play in the divisional league.
Yankuba also said he would like to organise a tournament next April, adding that he would take some Gambian players from the country to Holland and vice versa.
Laity Cham, team coordinator of Milan FC, said the team was established in 1999, gained qualification to the Serrekunda East Nawetaan Zone in 2006 and has produced several national players for the country.
He highlighted the likes of Sainey Touray, alias Ballack, who is currently plying his trade in the United States of America; Habib Kunta, and Pap Salif Badjie, who won the Cadet African U-17 Championship with the Gambian U-17 team in Algeria last year.
He also said they have two players who are among the thirty-man squad of the U-17, and have been to the Serrekunda East Nawetaan finals once and the semi-finals thrice.