Aubameyang and Gabon teammates sleep on airport floor

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and his Gabon teammates were forced to spend the night sleeping on the airport floor ahead of their vital Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Gambia.

Aubameyang used social media to highlight their plight after arriving at Banjul International Airport on Sunday, ahead of Monday’s Group D clash in the Gambian capital.

The Gabon delegation were told they were not allowed to leave the airport because of an administrative problem. They slept on the floor overnight and were allowed to leave in the morning after the government’s intervention.

No reason was given for the failure to allow the team to leave the airport and head to their hotel. Even by the standards of gamesmanship in African football, this was unusual.  

Gabon’s federation posted pictures of the incident on its Facebook page but without any comment.

“Nice job CAF, it’s as if we were back in the 1990s,” Aubameyang posted on Twitter in a reference to previous foibles blamed on the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

“This will not demotivate us but people need to know and CAF need to take responsibility. [It is] 2020 and we want Africa to grow but this is not how we will get there,” the Arsenal striker added later.

Gabon are top of the group standings, three points ahead of Gambia, who are seeking to reach the Nations Cup finals for the first time. The top two teams in the group — which includes Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo — advance to the finals in Cameroon in early 2022.

Reuters