Football is back

Football is back Jesse Jackson Kauraisa



WINDHOEK

The Namibia Football Association (NFA) yesterday announced that the anticipated Namibia Premier League will officially kick off on a transitional level.

The announcement comes in the wake of a controversial Sunday which saw several media statements and news regarding the start of football released.

NFA secretary-general Franco Cosmos alongside two exco members Peter Ndjulu and Shali Amakali issued a joint press release clearing up Sunday’s shenanigans.

“The NFA wishes to put the record straight and announce that the NFA unconditionally withdrew all previous conflicting and confusing messages about the official start of the Football Bounce Back Programme in Namibia as erroneously published on the NFA website.

“The inaccurate communication was an error, and it is inconsistent with the resolutions of the recently held executive committee meeting on 26 and 27 March at Heja Lodge, on the outskirts of Windhoek.

“In this regard, we, at the NFA, would like to deposit an unreserved apology to all football stakeholders of the NFA, Cosafa, CAF and FIFA who might have read this inaccurate communication from the NFA website,” the statement reads.

Bounce Back

The NFA announced that its Bounce Back programme will commence from 17 April and run until 31 July.

During this period, the Namibia Premier Football League’s (NPFL) nationwide first division - consisting of the north-east first division, north-west first division and the southern stream first division as well as the 14 regional second division leagues including the women’s football league will play a transition league in preparation for league proper, slated to commence in August 2021 and end in June 2022.

“This will align the NFA football season 2021/2022 with the rest of the world football calendar of FIFA,” the statement further read.

The nationwide first division and regional second division leagues are expected to create fireworks for the preliminary rounds of the popular MTC-NFA Cup, slated for 17 and 18 April and 24 and 25 April.

The round of 32 of the MTC-NFA Cup is scheduled to take place on 15 May.