The final will take place between Friday 17th and 19th March 2023.
This year’s championship, which began last month (February 3rd 2023) at Bansang in Central River Region was decentralized across other regions - North Bank, West Coast and Kanifing Municipality.
“The reason for selecting Bottrop Senior Secondary School Football Ground in Brikama for the final is as a result of ongoing renovation work at the Independence Stadium in Bakau,” said Ismaila Ceesay, president of the Gambia Secondary Schools Sports Association.
He added that The Gambia has only one stadium with tracks, adding that a few years ago they held the finals in Farafenni when the stadium tracks were under renovation.
“Apart from the Bottrop ground in Brikama, the other better field is the Brufut Strasser. We never had any competition there but the ones we had at Bottrop during the hits had a very good turnout,” he stated.
Mr. Ceesay noted that as an association struggling financially, they want to conduct a final that will attract more spectators and generate more funds for them.
“This is one of the reasons we decided to go to Brikama which is a town that loves sports - be it football or athletics. We hosted our regional hits there and we saw how people turned out, especially if it is going to be a final,” he also said.
President Ceesay revealed that the ticketing for this year’s championship final are D100 for Day 1&2 (Friday and Saturday), while Day 3 (Sunday) is D150.
“We are also thinking of bringing young Gambian artists (ST, Nyancho and others) to mark the days with us. Every day one artist will be present to grace and entertain people.”
According to him, the prizes for the winners will remain the same due to their continuous lack of support.
The winner for the Senior Secondary School will be rewarded D100, 000, runner up D50, 000 and third place D25, 000 respectively.
In the Upper Basic School category, the winner will be rewarded D50, 000, the runner up D25, 000 and third place D15, 000 respectively.
