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Football remains in shambles We have always maintained that we are not a football nation and we don’t look like a country that is taking the game seriously. The Brave Warriors’s failure to qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, as well as the fact that we couldn’t negotiate our way past round one in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, speaks volumes about our perennial underachiever’s tag. As we write this, other African nations will be involved in competitive matches for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers this weekend and next week. Obviously not all of them have managed a round-two qualification, and like Namibia, many others will go into the two-week hiatus for an international break without kicking a ball unless they have arranged for friendly ties. There have been few and far between friendly matches involving the national team since we won the 2015 Cosafa edition in South Africa. The Brave Warriors have mostly only competed in mandatory tournaments, including this year’s Cosafa Cup that we hosted as well as the 2017 Afcon qualifiers. Journalists are greeted with the usual “there is no money” message when confronting the football bosses about the pathetic situation. Our football woes are further exacerbated by the fact that our top-flight has been delayed by almost two months after MTC decided to end its sponsorship. Our junior team also won the U-17 Cosafa Cup championship after beating South Africa in Mauritius. We haven’t heard of any programme involving these youngsters in ensuring consistency and proper development. Although the Namibia Premier League (NPL) boss Johnny Doeseb hinted that he would make a big announcement regarding the future of the local league, football remains in the doldrums and serious interventions are needed to lift the game out of this financial mess. The financial woes of football and sport in general are well-documented. Our association is broke and the NPL is in disarray. We can ill-afford to continue like this and new leadership is needed on the field.
Clik here to view.
Football remains in shambles We have always maintained that we are not a football nation and we don’t look like a country that is taking the game seriously. The Brave Warriors’s failure to qualify for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, as well as the fact that we couldn’t negotiate our way past round one in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, speaks volumes about our perennial underachiever’s tag. As we write this, other African nations will be involved in competitive matches for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers this weekend and next week. Obviously not all of them have managed a round-two qualification, and like Namibia, many others will go into the two-week hiatus for an international break without kicking a ball unless they have arranged for friendly ties. There have been few and far between friendly matches involving the national team since we won the 2015 Cosafa edition in South Africa. The Brave Warriors have mostly only competed in mandatory tournaments, including this year’s Cosafa Cup that we hosted as well as the 2017 Afcon qualifiers. Journalists are greeted with the usual “there is no money” message when confronting the football bosses about the pathetic situation. Our football woes are further exacerbated by the fact that our top-flight has been delayed by almost two months after MTC decided to end its sponsorship. Our junior team also won the U-17 Cosafa Cup championship after beating South Africa in Mauritius. We haven’t heard of any programme involving these youngsters in ensuring consistency and proper development. Although the Namibia Premier League (NPL) boss Johnny Doeseb hinted that he would make a big announcement regarding the future of the local league, football remains in the doldrums and serious interventions are needed to lift the game out of this financial mess. The financial woes of football and sport in general are well-documented. Our association is broke and the NPL is in disarray. We can ill-afford to continue like this and new leadership is needed on the field.