Gambian Football Team Avoids Disaster During Flight for African Cup of Nations

Gambian national team players survived a scare during a flight to the African Cup of Nations, a situation that could have become a disaster for the team.

Gambian journalist Sane Malang said some of the players fainted due to a lack of oxygen on the plane and the main reason for that was the plane’s size. The plane had to take a U-turn towards Gambia and two players fainted as a result of the unfortunate incident.

https://twitter.com/centregoals/status/1745357655454232828

In a recent tweet, Sane Malang wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter that “An Air Ivoire sent a new plane which has already arrived in Gambia to transport the Gambian delegation to Yammossoukro”.

It has been reported that the size of the plane was not good enough to carry the team to Ivory Coast, where the AFCON competition will be held.

Yesterday , 🇬🇲 Gambia’s flight to Ivory Coast had to return to Banjul – the oxygen levels in the plane made some of the players faint mid flight.

Two members of the team suffered shocks but thankfully no one was harmed.

The team was able to train in the evening. [@sane932] pic.twitter.com/bCgQhby63L

— Owuraku Ampofo (@_owurakuampofo) January 11, 2024

The Gambian National team will kickstart their AFCON campaign on 15th January and they have been placed in Group C which comprises Guinea, Senegal, and Cameroon. Their first match will be against Sadio Mane’s Senegal which will be the most daunting game in the group stage for Gambia.

In 2021, the Gambia reached the quarterfinals of AFCON for the first time in their history and bowed out of the competition with a 2-0 defeat at the hands of Cameroon.