Claim: A viral Facebook post claims that Yankuba Minteh, a Gambian international footballer, has announced a boycott of the national team until Independence Stadium is completed.
Verdict: Misleading! While Yankuba spoke about a boycott in a recent interview, he was referencing a plan he once had but later dropped after persuasion. The viral claim misrepresented his statement.
Full Text
Kerr Fatou, a Facebook user, recently posted that Yankuba Minteh, a Gambian international footballer, has announced a boycott of the country’s national team.
“Yankuba Minteh announces national team boycott until Independence Stadium is completed,” he wrote.
As of June 24, 2026, the post had accumulated 3,000 likes, 880 comments, and 35 shares.
It has also sparked debate among Facebook users, with some believing it was true and others not.
For instance, Wandifa Jawara supported the claim and encouraged others to follow suit.
He said, “Very good decision; all the players should thank him for this wonderful decision.”
Another user, Buba Darboe, said, “Wonderful bro, this is long overdue, thank you Minteh, shame on the authorities is too frustrating man.”
Lamin Sarr said, “He planned to boycott, but later changed his mind. Listen to the interview and understand what he said.”
QTV Gambia, a major news outlet, published the story questioning the player’s decision to instigate a boycott of the national team.
Another online news platform, The Fatu Network, equally reported on the boycott saga.
Other Facebook bloggers have also reproduced the claim as seen here, here, here, here, and here.
DUBAWA conducted this fact check due to the claim’s virality.
Verification
Kerr, the claimant, said Yankuba announced that he is spearheading the boycott during an interview with Foday Fo, a Gambian journalist, on June 21, 2026. We checked Foday’s Facebook page and found the interview.
We transcribed and reviewed the four-minute interview but did not find where Yankuba announced that he would boycott the national team until the Independence Stadium is ready.
Rather, Yankuba in the video was talking about an earlier plan he had to boycott the national team and not to represent the Gambia until the stadium is fixed. He said the plan never materialised due to pleas from his teammates.
“What changed my mind is that some players came to me and they were like, you know, how important you are in the national team. If you are not part of the national team is going to bring so many talks,” he said.
Yankuba clarified that he did not proceed because of his friends, who asked him not to stop playing for the country.
Furthermore, we messaged Yankuba via his official Instagram account. However, he has not responded to our chat as of the time of this fact check.
The Independence Stadium in Bakau, Gambia, has been under renovation since January 2023. As of June 2026, news reports confirmed that the renovation of the 40-year-old facility has not been fully completed or cleared for international matches.
Conclusion
The claim that the Gambian international footballer has announced a boycott of the national team until the Independence Stadium is completed is misleading.
By Momodou Janneh
This report was produced under the 2026 Kwame Karikari Fact-checking and OSINT Fellowship, co-hosted by DUBAWA and the Digital Technology, Artificial Intelligence, and Information Disorder Analysis Centre (DAIDAC), with support from the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID).