Brigadier-General Lang Tombong Tamba, first vice-president of the Gambia Football Association has paid a special tribute to the Gambia football coaches for what he described as their total dedication to the promotion and development of Gambian football. Tamba, who doubles as chief of defence staff of The Gambia Armed Forces, said  Gambians can today boost of professional football players - thanks to the local coaches who nurtured them at the grassroot level.

The GFA number 2 made these remarks on Sunday, on behalf of his President, Seedy Kinteh, during a farewell dinner thrown by the Gambia Football Coaches Association in honour of their visiting Swedish colleagues at President Jammeh's Joint Officers' Mess in Kotu.

Vice-president Tamba recollected that the national football governing body hired the services of the local coaches to guide the national teams to major international competitions, noting that this was done because of the trust and confidence the the football association has in the local coaches.

"We are partners and we will always endeavour to expose you. Just recently we had tasked our local coaches to lead the national teams to international competitions like the FIFA U-20 World Cup finals in Canada. We opted for the Gambian coaches because of the trust and confidence we have in you. And I'm proud to say that you carried out the task as expected," he said glowingly.

While thanking the Swedish visitors for their positive foresight, Tamba also heaped praises on the coordinator, Pa Musa Fofana, for his true patriotism. "This is what we call patriotism. If see a good thing for your country bring it," said Tamba, who challenged other associations to emulate the coaches association by forging partnership with their owns in other nations for the development of the nation.