The newly elected president of the Gambia Football Federation (GFF), Mustapha Kebbeh, has outlined his plans for Gambian football. Kebbeh was speaking at the Paradise Suites Hotel in Kololi Wednesday after his election.

The president of Steve Biko Football Club, who promised to continue from where the Normalisation Committee had stopped, said he is more of a development specialist than giving political statements that he cannot deliver.

"I am more of a development specialist; I am not good in giving political statements just for people to shout and not being able to do it. So for us, my executive's first engagement is to have a thorough review of the current status and do a complete assessment as to where we are," he added. He identified key areas that his executive will not relent in ensuring that it happens immediately in Gambian football. He outlined that those key areas among others is to look into how they can build capacities and the different structures in the running of the game.

Kebbeh, who also doubles as the acting country director of Child Fund The Gambia, stressed that another area that needs urgent action is a business development plan to market the game of football in The Gambia. According to him, they are going to come up with a business development framework in their attempt to stop looking for donations in order to honour national football engagements. "We want to stop carrying the begging bowls without using football to build an industry where people can be gainfully employed and the players will enjoy."

The president-elect also urged people to stop looking at football as just a game and promised that his executive will work very hard in the "reunification" of the different stakeholders and make sure all of them come together for the development and progress of the Gambian game.

Plans for female football

The new president of the GFF also pledged his executive's commitment to the development of female football in the country, saying it is a major priority for his executive especially when it comes to capacity development in terms of their structures and systems, and the technical competence for female football to shine.

Also speaking at a post-election press conference, the outgoing vice chairman and spokesperson of the Normalisation Committee, Alhaji Omar Sey, thanked the delegates for the high sense of maturity shown during the elective congress. He also echoed the president-elect on the need for the reunification of all stakeholders in order to see football move from strength to strength in the country.

Speaking to Observer Sports from Senegal, the assistant head coach of the women U-17 team, Chorro Mbenga, expressed delight at Kebbeh's election. She also pleaded with the new GFF president and his team to be committed to the development of female football in the country.

"Well, it is not a surprise because this is what many people were calling for that they need a change. Women football now needs their support to take our game to another level because it's been a while we haven't played a league game. This has resulted to some of the big team players going to Senegal to play in their domestic league and I am not in support of that," Chorro, who also doubles as the head coach of Red Scorpions FC, said.

She described Mustapha Kebbeh as a young man full of potential. "It is a good idea and I am happy for him, I just hope they [the new executive] will work hand-in-glove with them [women football]," she remarked, while stressing the need for the new executive to look into the league and to introduce more projects for the female game, particularly in the areas of coaching, administration and refereeing. "More women are now taking the challenge to put on the black shirt," she added.