Following a 1-0 win over Liberia in the first leg of their first round qualifier last month, Liberia protested to the Confederation for African Football (CAF) arguing Gambia had fielded overage players.

The CAF found five players, Sampierre Mendy, Buba Sanneh, Bubacarr Trawally, Saloum Fall and Ali Sowe, were born in 1994 and so could not take part in the qualifiers.

Only players born in 1995 onwards can play in the competition.

Gambia were, therefore, disqualified from the qualifier and, following further investigation, banned from all CAF competitions for two years.

Among those found to be overage was Ali Sowe, who could be as old as 25, after the CAF discovered records from a 2012 club competition that showed his birthday on his passport as October 14, 1988 ©Getty Images



In their decision, the CAF declared that some of the players' passports were doctored with Sowe, of Italian club AC Chievo Verona, possibly being as old as 25, after it discovered records from a 2012 club competition that showed his birthday on his passport as October 14, 1988.

Bakary B Baldeh, media officer at the Gambia Football Federation, announced an appeal over the ban has been lodged with the CAF.

Under the current ban, Gambia's senior national team was thrown out of qualifying for next year's African Cup of Nations in Morocco, with Gambian clubs unable to play in continental games.

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