Amilcar Cabral Zone II Championship, a regional football tournament for West African nations, which is scheduled to take place in Guinea Bissau has been shifted, Observer Sports can reveal.

The eight-nation tournament which was earlier scheduled to start from November 22 to December 4, will now start on November 30 and ends on December 4, 2007, in the former Portuguese colony of Guinea Bissau. The postponement, Observer Sports has gathered, was effected to allow the host country to complete construction works on its FIFA sponsored artificial turf ground.

The draw for the championship will take place on Saturday, November 10, where the eight participating nations that include The Gambia, Mauritania , Guinea Conakry, Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, Cape Verde, Senegal and Mali , will be grouped in two groups of four.

The Gambian team have since started training, ahead of the bi-annual championship. The twenty-seven home-based players who are currently training under the guidance of the Spanish coach, Jose Martnez, will be trimmed to a 22-man squad on Tuesday, November 6.

The Scorpions have never won the Zone II championship since its inception, but have reached the finals twice -   1958 and 1980 - and have lost both finals to the neighbouring Senegal who have won the championship a record 8 times. Guinea Conakry are the second record holders, having won it 5 times.