The Gambia Football Association (GFA) has shortlisted five names to fill the vacant position of the Senior National team following days of scrutinizing the applications of the respective applicants, Pointsport can confirm.
The development came hot on the heels of the termination of the contract of former Scorpions’ boss Paul Put, who parted company with his former employers after failing in his attempt to qualify The Gambia for the AFCON finals in Gabon/Equatorial Guinea.
The FA has since engaged in the process of recommending another coach for the approval of the Ministry of Youth and Sports and it looks like the sports ministry is inching ever closer to appointing the next coach of The Gambia’s Scorpions.
The GFA, in a press release signed by its media officer Bakary B. Baldeh, states:
The Gambia Football Association has finally shortlisted five names for the position of Head Coach for the National Team of The Gambia - Scorpions.
This came after the GFA received directive from the Ministry of Youth and Sports to look for a possible replacement to former coach Paul Put, whose contract was terminated at the end of October 2011.
A seven member committee headed by Honourable Alhagie Sillah, NAM Banjul North and former Scorpions Head Coach, was then set up by the GFA to scrutinize the already eighteen overseas applicants who vied for the top job.
The committee at the end of their second sitting on Wednesday the 27th of December 2011 at the GFA Secretariat in Kanifing, finally shortlisted the following for interview on the 6th of January 2011 at the GFA Secretariat.
The list that is sent to the National Sports Council and the Ministry of Youth and Sports include: MR TAELMAN RENE, Belgian, MR TOM SAINTFIET, Belgian, MR MARTTI KUUSELA, Finnish, MR MHW KOOPMAN, Dutch, and MR HEIKO BECKER, German.
Pointsport also understands that the Ministry of Youth and Sports is planning to engage a local coach.
