AFCON 2023: Lion’s Opponents, The Gambia Touchdown Côte D’Ivoire

By Ngome Michael

After evading disaster by returning back to Banjul due to malfunctions on their Initial chartered Ivorian plane causing loss of oxygen, the Scorpions have safely arrived in Yamoussoukro on a direct flight.

Tom Saintfiet and his team left home at 4pm local time on Airbus 319 following interventions from President Adama Barrow.

Captain Omar Colley had in the early hours of Thursday, January 11 2024 rejected a request to board the same Air Côte D’Ivoire plane that malfunctioned to Abidjan, then Yamoussoukro.

“We have been asked to fly on the same plane to Ivory Coast but captain Omar Colley and I have refused…”

“If we don’t get a different plane, we will return home and not go to Afcon”, Tom Saintfiet told the BBC.

The GFA later revealed changes on a much convenient and direct flight to the Scorpions base in the Ivorian administrative capital.

“The Gambia Football Federation is pleased to announce that the Scorpions will leave the Banjul International Airport at 4pm today following the intervention of His Excellency President Adama Barrow,” a GFA statement posted their Facebook page.

The Gambia have now landed safely in Yamoussoukro where they will face defending champions Senegal on January 15 and Cameroon and Guinea in Group C.