Luciano Mancini, head coach of the senior national team of The Gambia on 8 August 2012 shared a roundtable meeting with divison one league coaches at the GFA Secretariat.
The meeting was conceived by newly appointed Technical Director Musa Njie with a view to fully involve league coaches in the selection of a local-based national team.
Musa Njie informed the coaches of the technical department’s readiness to collaborate with them in the selection process that would represent a national interest.
He said for any country to succeed in international football, there must be a strong home-based national squad to serve as an alternative to the foreign-based players.
Head Coach Luciano Mancini says the meeting is the first of many consulatations he intended to hold with the stakeholders so as to put in place a reputable home-based national team.
He promises to start visiting training grounds to familiarise himself with training programmes of the coaches.
Assistant Coach Peter Bonu Johnson calls for concerted efforts to be able to formulate a strong and formidable side as opposed to relying on foreign-based players anytime the country has an international assignment.
The coaches welcomed the idea and availed themselves the opportunity to share with the Italian tactician their resolve to participate fully in the process, hence the players to be selected would all come from their teams.
The meeting was attended by seven of the twelve league coaches from division one, who are tasked to scout three of their most outstanding players for the start of the scouting process.
Along the way, other departments of the field of play would be looked into.
