Choro Mbenga
Gambian football player and manager
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Choro Mbenga is a Gambian football coach and former player, who is the current manager of Gambian team Red Scorpions FC, and assistant coach of the Gambia women's national football team.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of birth | The Gambia | ||
| Position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| ? | Red Scorpions FC | ||
| Managerial career | |||
| ?–present | Red Scorpions FC | ||
| ? | Gambia U-17 (assistant coach) | ||
| ?–present | Gambia (assistant coach) | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Personal life
Choro Mbenga's brother Des Samba was a coach and manager at Red Scorpions FC, and was later head of women's football for the Gambia Football Association (now the Gambia Football Federation) for two non-consecutive terms.[1][2]
Career
Mbenga played for Gambian team Red Scorpions FC as a goalkeeper.[3] In 2011, Mbenga hosted a Confederation of African Football women's football coaching course in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.[4] From 2014–15, she was the Gambia Football Federation's women's football co-ordinator.[5][6] Whilst in the role, she organised Gambia's first women's football festival, for girls aged between 6 and 12 in Yundum.[7]
Mbenga has worked as head coach of Red Scorpions FC,[8] and as an assistant coach of the Gambia women's national football team,[3] and the Gambia women's national under-17 football team.[9] She is the only Gambian woman with a FIFA B grade licence.[3] She led the Red Scorpians to second place in the 2009 Division One League Championship.[10] In 2016, Mbenga and her assistant Dodou Faye were suspended for attacking a referee.[11] She was a coach of Gambian and Red Scorpians footballer Fatim Jawara, who died in 2016 after trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea.[8] Mbenga also guided Red Scorpions to the 2019 Division One League Championship.[12]
