Real de Banjul Football Club can confirm that striker Suwaibou Kebbeh has completed a move to Swedish Allsvenskan side Hammarby IF. The 18-year-old forward joins Hammarby on loan with an option to buy, marking an exciting new chapter in his promising career. Kebbeh departs the City Boys after playing a pivotal role in securing our third consecutive Gambia Football Federation Men’s Division One League title, which was our 15th overall. He was particularly influential during the second half of the season, scoring eight crucial league goals and featuring in every game as we powered toward the championship. Club President William Abraham praised the young striker’s contribution, stating that: “Suwaibou is a player of exceptional character and talent. His impact in the latter part of the season was vital to our title win and we’re proud to have been part of his development. We believe this move to Hammarby will help him take the next step in his career and we’ll be watching his progress closely. Hammarby is a top club in Sweden and we’re happy that we could provide this chance for him.” Speaking on his transfer, Kebbeh expressed gratitude to the the City Boys, saying: “I want to sincerely thank everyone at Real de Banjul, the coaches, staff, my teammates and the fans for believing in me. This club gave me the platform to grow and I’ll always be grateful. I wish the team the very best in the CAF Champions League qualifiers.” Everyone at Real de Banjul FC extends their best wishes to Suwaibou Kebbeh as he embarks on this new journey in Sweden. We look forward to seeing his continued growth and success at Hammarby IF.

Real de Banjul is delighted to announce that reliable defender David Sambou is leaving to sign for Manila Digger FC in the Philippines Football League (top-tier) after eight successful seasons at the club. The 22-year-old, who has been at the club for eight amazing years, winning five trophies, three times GFF Division One League champion and two Super Cup titles at the club, captained the club many times, he was a great leader, and example to many. The center-back who has been a key figure and consistent performer for the City Boys under four different coaches will Manila Diggers who play in the Philippines Football League and are preparing to play in the Asian Champions League 2. David signed for the City Boys in 2018 from Tallinding United and won the Super Cup in his first competitive game under Ebou Jarra, the defender went on to be a pillar in the City Boys’ team afterwards, playing under Legendary Bye Malleh Wadda, Vjatseslav Zahovaiko whom he won his first League Title with before he went on to win two more league titles and a Super Cup under current coach, Ebrima Jatta. David Sambou leaves a reputable mark as the exemplary figure, and character very respected across the club for his loyalty, consistent performances, and leadership qualities during his eight illustrious seasons with the 15-time GFF Division One Champions. This is what David had to say after the confirmation of his departure from the club he served for almost a decade with admirable service: “First of all, I would like to thank God for making this move possible. I want to say a big thank you to my family, Real de Banjul Board, the Coaches I played under at the club, my teammates, and our amazing fans for their support and sacrifices, because without these people I wouldn’t have this opportunity. They gave me a lot of support and motivation to achieve what I have today. Sadly, I am leaving, but this is life and things happen for a reason, whatever comes your way you have to take it. Believing in myself is the reason I arrived here today and the support of my colleagues and the people that I have been working with”. “It is a very difficult feeling because Real de Banjul is my home where I have learned a lot. It is not easy to leave a place where you have lived for so long. The environment, the loved ones that you lived with, the good relationship at the club, working shoulder to shoulder in tough moments to make things right, and a moment like this arrives where you turn your back and leave. So is life. For me, what I always have in mind is; what I see is what I take and Real de Banjul was everything to me, so that is why I took my time at the club with all my life, and made it my mind, that was where I belonged, that is where…

The management of Real de Banjul FC on Tuesday warmly welcomed the Sporting Real U-16 team to the club headquarters at Kerr Real, in recognition of their impressive performance in the recently concluded Gambinos Cup U-16 tournament. The young and talented squad, led by head coach Yusupha Sanyang and his backroom staff, were joined by their proud parents for a vibrant ceremony hosted by the club. The team finished as runners-up in their debut appearance at the prestigious annual youth competition, narrowly missing out on the title after a dramatic penalty shootout in the final. Sporting Real U-16, also known as the Young Whites, topped a tough group that included eventual champions Gambinos Stars Africa, LK City, and BE Sport Academy. They advanced from the group stage with an impressive seven points before defeating Senegalese side Elite Stars on penalties in the semifinals. In a closely contested final, they fell just short against the hosts. Real de Banjul FC President William Abraham praised the young team for their discipline and determination. “They’re all champions,” Abraham said. “We’re very proud of their performance, their commitment, and their professionalism. This was their first major competition, and they carried themselves with incredible maturity. We also extend our deepest thanks to the parents and coaching staff who supported them throughout.” Second Vice President Mr. Bakary K. Jammeh also addressed the gathering, emphasizing the vital role the U-16 side plays in the club’s development structure. “These boys are the foundation of our future,” Jammeh stated. “Their dreams—to become professionals and represent The Gambia—are our collective mission. Football is more than a sport; it’s a career path and a means of transforming lives. We are committed to guiding these players and helping them achieve greatness.” He also praised the parents for their continued trust in the club and called on them to remain active partners in their children’s development, both on and off the pitch. Speaking on behalf of the parents, Mr. Amadou Jallow expressed gratitude to the club for providing a platform for their children to pursue their dreams. “We’re grateful to the club for nurturing our children and giving them the opportunity to shine,” Jallow said. “As parents, we have a responsibility to support them in both education and sport. With our collective efforts, we can help them succeed.” The ceremony served not only as a celebration of Sporting Real U-16’s achievements, but also as a reaffirmation of Real de Banjul FC’s commitment to youth development and community engagement.

Real de Banjul head coach Ebrima Jatta says he has the ambition to win the Gambia Football Federation League Division One title in his first season as the club’s gaffer. The City Boys have some comfort at the summit of the league table with ten points with eight league games remaining. “Winning the 14th league title for this club in my first season as head coach is an ambition but we can’t take anything for granted. We will continue working hard and I am confident that this team will continue performing at the highest level,” Jatta said ahead of his next league game. The 13-time GFF Division One League champions have in most part of the season led the league table and outscoring the teams behind them. The gaffer explained the reasons behind his side’s good saying that: “We are thrilled with the significant progress that the team have achieved so far. In the beginning we had to ask ourselves how we are going to approach the league. We firstly had to set a clear goal for the team and how to make significant progress m, how to we get the team produce high quality work, our standards and expectations and how to continue at that level for the rest of the season.” He added: “After reviewing our progress from the first round until now, we can see that we have achieved those goals set so far. The performances individually and as a team have been very good and we will like to commend our hardworking team for their dedication and understanding our coaching philosophy as we progress through the league. Initially, our focus was to be cautious in the first five games then we transition to a more aggressive attacking pattern, and the players understanding of our ideas helped us achieve what we are enjoying today.” The City Boys have no one close to the top-scoring chart but still scored more goals than any other team in the league so far and have impressively had striker Assan Corr and winger Muhammed Suso following Alasana Yirajang in scoring a hat-trick this season. The head coach commented on that saying that: “Real de Banjul have a diverse pool of talented players, each with their unique qualities and strengths, some are new or finding their footing after coming from loan. As coaches, we understand the needs of these players and to work closely with them to improve their understanding of the game and their full potential. We recognize that this (objective) may take time and effort but with patient and dedication, we can help each player grow and develop.” Ebrima Jatta and his charges will next play away to his former employers in the Gambia Armed Forces (GAF FC) at the Bakau mini stadium on Thursday with the game kicking off at 16:30 GMT.

The second Vice President of Real de Banjul, Mr. Bakary K. Jammeh, has shared the club management’s impression on the City Boys’ performance in the first round of the Gambia Football Federation Division One League. The reigning Champions have been a mainstay on top of the Division One League table having to lead it for most of the first round. Head Coach Ebrima Jatta and his charges won an impressive ten, drew two and lost only three games throughout the first round with the City Boys scoring 22 goals and conceding only 7 in the process. The results and hard work has now led to the Club 2nd Vice President to sit down with the inhouse media to discuss the team’s first round performance and to discuss the transfers of Alasana Yirajang and Ousman Kujabi to Slovakian club FK Železiarne Podbrezová, the performance of the head coach as well as the players camped at Kerr Real. Asked what’s the impression of the club management after the first round of the team’s title defense season, Mr. Jammeh said….. “We are relatively satisfied with the performance of the team so far. We are on top of the league table by three points; it’s not a comfortable one, one has to really qualify that. We are the highest scorers, we have one of the best defensive records and we’ve the highest clean sheets thanks to our defense and goalkeepers and by extension to the whole team. So, relatively, it was a very good first half of the season. If we are to repeat that same results in the second half we can say that we’ve ticked our main box. It’s beyond numbers (on the pitch), from a policy point of view we want to be the very best all times in the country and importantly we want to keep this assembly line of these semi professionals, because we are known for that ongoing. So far we have two of our current players who have left for Slovakia, in Alasana Yirajang and Ousman Kujabi. Congratulations to them, congratulations to the Head Coach, Ebrima Jatta and all the technical staff and teammates who have helped them to go. So we are happy with that and hope that we’ll be able to add a few more in the second half of the season because this is what Real de Banjul is about, bettering the life of our young men and also keeping our business model going because when more players go, it means we have more funding to put back into the team, to develop more young ones and also help attract more young players into the club. We have more exciting young players who are yet to reach their potentials. We also have three players selected to the Gambia U20 team but by our standard, it should be more than that! So, if you ask me, that is one area I’m not satisfied with. Three is a good number but I’ll charge our technical team…

Real de Banjul Football Club have decamped the twelve players who were camped at Kerr Real at the end of the five weeks timeline of the pilot program. It could be recalled that in over a month ago, the management together with the club’s technicians initiated to camp twelve young players for five weeks at its club house, Kerr Real, to trial a different approach to developing some young players. The initiative that acclaimed the praise and approval of football enthusiasts, went to be a worthy one after players from the camp showed signs of progress as Real de Banjul’s five out of their last six games, were scored by Baboucarr Touray (2), Alasana Badjie (2) and Abdurahman Badamosi (1), all from the camped group and coincidentally their very first goals of the campaign and they came after the fourth and fifth weeks of their camp. Club President William Abraham shared his satisfaction during the decamping of the successful camp on Monday at Kerr Real saying that: “I want to thank (club technical director) Pa Suwareh Faye and Coach Lamin Kijera who did a great job with the twelve players during the five weeks long camp. I want to thank the players for their patience and discipline that you’ve shown.” “I have never heard of any bad attitudes or wrongdoing from the camp, so it means we are achieving what we are slowly achieving what we want. We appreciate your patience, some of you are not having playing time, wait for your time. My level of education is not very high, I didn’t go to University or College. Bye Malleh Wadda was my commerce teacher and I was the best student in his class. Immediately I finished High School, I knew that a job was waiting for me because I was working since I was going to school. In this world you have to believe in yourself, I didn’t have to go the University to be the President of Real de Banjul, Pa Yusufa Samba who’s my vice president is much older than me but God gave me this seat.” Abraham added: “So, if you believe in yourselves, you believe that you’re the twelve players out of over a hundred players that the club has, you’re the luckiest twelve players to be in this camp. I am happy that you’re making good use of it because everything that we gave you here, we feel that it’s the best, for the first time something like this is happening in the country. This project we are doing here, I have put it on the table of the former President, Yahya Jammeh and that of Adama Barrow to build an academy facility in every region of the country. We have the best talent in Africa and I believe in them that’s why we are doing this. So, if you believe in yourself and this project you will go very far. Most of you playing in the first team have a lot of scouts…

Head Coach Ebrima Jatta said he expected a difficult first half against Greater Tomorrow which was why the players had to sit back and close the gaps behind the ball to stop them from scoring on Sunday evening. The reigning champions maintained their perfect start to their title defense season with a late goal from Muhammed Suso enough to secure the three points at the Box Bar mini stadium in Brikama against Greater Tomorrow. Speaking to the club’s media, Head Coach, Ebrima Jatta said that: “Going into the game against Greater Tomorrow, I personally knew it was going to be a very difficult game for us especially in the first half knowing fully well that they’re playing at home with a park full of their supporters. With their movements and touches, all we had to do was sit back and study them, close the gaps behind the ball and stop them from scoring.” He added: “We lacked that creativity when we had possession. You can also see gaps between our midfield and the offensive third when we lost the balls and allowed the opponent to play the ball without being pressured coming to our defense line and making those dangerous passes. But with all that we had the composure to close the gaps to stop them from making those penetrative passes, we forced them to play through the wings and send in crosses knowing that we have very solid defenders who are good in aerial duels.” On the perfect start after winning the first two games, Jatta alias ‘Giggs’ said: “The perfect start to the season continues with no goal conceded, that is our main objective. Personally, I hate to concede goals – perhaps from set pieces which is going to be a gamble but I will hate to see my defense line been broken into pieces and scored through open play.” He added: “My style of football is to make sure every player on the pitch masters their responsibilities to their fingertips, that way whenever situations arises, you’ll know what to do but it is my responsibility to teach them that. It is a good start to the season, I hope it continues.” “Since I came to Real de Banjul one and half season ago, winning three games in a row was a bit difficult for us to achieve and last year we recorded a hat-trick of loses which is against the culture of Real de Banjul, I’m fully aware and I’m trying to avert those situation. We have two wins out of two and we hope that when Steve Biko comes visiting, we get another victory again.” Real de Banjul will host Steve Biko at the Live Your Dream Sports Academy in Basori on Friday, November 24.

The Executive management of Real de Banjul at the weekend met with the players of the Club where they gave them words of wisdom, advice and their blessings ahead of the new league Division One season in which the City Boys expect to defend its title. The City Boys went to camp at the Live Your Dream Sports Academy in Basori to intensify their preparation ahead the new Gambia Football Federation (GFF) 2023/24 League Division One season which is scheduled to commence in November. Bakary K. Jammeh, the 2nd Vice President of the Club, while addressing the players, said that: “You are all equal here. Yes, there might be seniority within but you all have the same privileges and opportunities here. It doesn’t matter if you’re a senior player, young, first or last to join the club you’re all Real de Banjul.” He added: “To the new players, welcome to the family. Once you’re Real, you’re always Real de Banjul. Whether you’re there or not because an idea is a philosophy. So, in this camp it is important that anyone that comes here should know that this is an idea, because what I am certain about is that before this season ends, there will be players who will not be here and will sign professional contracts, so please feel at home, belong here, fight for these colors, because it’ll not only help you to go professional but also to those that will replace you.” “It will be like you’ve helped yourself and maintained the same platform. It doesn’t matter where you coming from, you’re here today, in the biggest and best club in The Gambia! Take it from me, by the end of next season God willing, there’ll be more players leaving because all of you here have the potential to turn professional. Selling players is our philosophy just as winning titles are also our philosophy. We will never settle down without achieving both like we did last season. I wish us all the best of luck in this season of 2023/24 to win the league and with many of you players turning professional football players,” Jammeh ended. Among those present in the gathering was Ebrima Barry who was part of the people that stood firm and contributed immensely towards the existence of Real de Banjul. Addressing the team, Barry said: “Real de Banjul is like a cult, once you’re in, your cannot leave. But this is for you (players), our time have passed but you people know what football can bring now. You can do it, it’s just a matter of effort and knowing what football can benefit you. If you sacrifice to come here and camp for more than nine days to wait for the season to come, you should show your talent. If you devote your time and decade a full year to become a professional player, you will do it.” “What’s important in football is to have the basics, the rest is working hard and dedication…

Real de Banjul is delighted to announce that it has completed the signing of young talented forward Omar Joof, who joins the club effective immediately. Sukuta-born Omar Joof is an exciting forward who joins us from relegated side Gamtel Football Club and he was over the moon to sign for the best club in the country. “I feel so great and happy to sign for the biggest club in the Gambia. The time I got contacted that Real de Banjul is interested in me, I was so happy and emotional. I said: “Wow, this is so great for my career and it’s great delight that a club like Real is interested in me,” he told the club’s official media. He added: “To be honest, it didn’t take me long to make my final decision and decide to join the club. I sat with my family and discussed the matter with them and I made it clear to them that I want to join Real de Banjul, they applauded me and supported my choice.” The mesmerising forward described signing for the City Boys as a dream come true for him saying that: “The move at first came as a surprise but signing for Real de Banjul is a dream come true for me. I know I was doing well for my former team, Gamtel FC and that’s part of the reasons Real came for me, so I will work so hard to achieve their expectations. I hope I can deliver for the club and from there I can turn professional with the help of the club as that is my dream.” Mr. Bakary K. Jammeh, the 2nd Vice President of Real de Banjul says the club will continue to make the dreams of young talented players come true and it is a delight to welcome Omar into the club. “Real de Banjul always give young players the opportunity to live their dreams of making a career out of football. As a Club, we are happy to welcome Omar Joof to our squad and we will help him grow to be the professional player he wants to be,” Jammeh said. Everyone at Real de Banjul welcomes Omar Joof to the Real de Banjul family with open arms.

Real de Banjul is delighted to announce that it has completed the signing of youngster Buba Sey who joins the club effective immediately. Buba is described as one of the best talents to emerge from Basse, in the Upper River Region of the Gambia and his signing is seen as a good addition to the club after the club beat other suitors for his signature. The talented forward was delighted after putting pen to paper with Real de Banjul and says he’s over the moon to join the biggest club in the Gambia. “It feels great to sign for the biggest club in the country, Real de Banjul FC, and what makes me happy is that it’s a dream come true for me to join the club because for me, Real de Banjul has always been the club I always wanted to play for,” Sey said in an interview with the club’s official website. He described how the move to Real de Banjul came through saying: “I was very happy and proud of myself when the first contact to me was made. I said to myself this is a dream come true and I can’t miss this one. Before Real de Banjul came into the picture, many other teams were following and interested in me but I had already decided that my heart was with this club.” Asked about what inspired him to choose Real de Banjul out of the many clubs that wanted his signature, Sey, said: “Well, as I said earlier, it is my dream club in the country and when they came, I didn’t think twice; secondly my mentor and a player who I always look up to, Bubacarr ‘Steve’ Trawally, passed through Real de Banjul having a good record playing for the team until he became professional, I also want to achieve that.” The teenager concluded by adding that: “I can’t wait to start playing for Real de Banjul and to do what I love the most, scoring and assisting goals and to win trophies for the team.” Club President William Abraham says it’s exciting that the club was able to secure the teenager’s signature and most especially, the fact we could sign a talented youngster from rural Gambia. “We are very excited to sign a player that comes from the upper part of The Gambia in Basse to join Real de Banjul. He’s a good signing but for now we will see how he progresses when he joins the team for training. We are very happy to sign a talent that was wanted by many clubs and I want to say we are welcoming Buba to the club and wishing him good luck with us and we also hope he will come in and settle in quickly and ready for the season.” Everyone at Real de Banjul will like to welcome Buba Sey to the Club and wish him well during his time with us.