WINDHOEK – Local football followers and sports enthusiasts can heave a huge sigh of relief following assurance that the financial coffers of the country’s football governing body (NFA) are safe and stuffed with sufficient currency, at least for the time being.
Those were the confident words through the spoken-tongue of the association’s long serving Secretary-General, Barry Rukoro.
The latter was carefully reacting to enquiries by New Era Sport over the financial status of NFA amid fears the association could face sanctions from the world’s football authorities for not meeting its financial obligations towards their creditors.
In the aftermath of Zimbabwe’s expulsion from FIFA competitions for failure to settle outstanding debt towards their former coach, the ugly debacle prompted Namibians to seek answers from NFA on its own situation.
Sickly worried and wondering whether domestic football is not destined for the same route and could find itself in the same predicament as the cash-stripped Zimbabwean Football Association (ZIFA) – whose assets have also been attached and impounded by creditors in that country.
Rukoro leapt to the defence of NFA, clearing the air over the burning but fairly legitimate questions among them why the association’s assets have not been registered with the Deeds Office for almost a decade since the historic inauguration of the FIFA-funded Football House in 2006.
“It should be well consumed that when we took over the administration of the NFA in 2006, the association had a scary debt of over N$3.9 million, so it could have been irresponsible and unwise to register the assets because our creditors were already circling like vicious vultures to lay their itchy hands on our belongings,” Rukoro explained.
The outspoken football administrator says the association is now squeaky clean debt-wise and has settled all those longstanding chronic debts owned to suppliers such as hotels, travelling agencies and various service providers.
He adds that the NFA is ready to register its assets and other relevant belongings in the name of a trust, which is a prerequisite from FIFA.
“The current NFA executive has managed to manufacture an excellent financial management system and unlike in the old days, our staff members are paid on time thanks to the FIFA Financial Assistance Programme (FAP),” boasts Rukoro.
The world’s football governing body avails a massive annual grant of U$250 000 across the board for all its members to ensure financial stability among its subjects. However, Rukoro is concerned over the Brave Warriors’ constant sickening failure to progress beyond the preliminary rounds of international competitions. “As an association, we lose much-needed income not only from gate-takings, but most importantly through the lucrative television revenue usually derived from the FIFA World Cup and CAF AFCON qualifiers.”