Hesron Kapanga 

The Namibia Football Association (NFA) is actively preparing for the upcoming 2024/25 men’s and women’s Premier League, as this season will introduce the first-ever club licensing process.

The two-day workshop on the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Club Licensing Online Platform (CLOP) commenced on Monday, and is being attended by 64 officials from the 16 Debmarine Premiership clubs and 12 Women’s Super League clubs.

In an interview with Nampa on Monday, NFA education officer Mathew Haikali said the club licensing initiative aims to provide clubs with the necessary information from CAF, and to guide them towards a more professional approach.

“The CAF Club Licensing is an online platform where both men and women from the Premier League will undergo training to register and obtain a licence. This licence will allow them to participate in the upcoming season,” he said.

He added that CAF started the CLOP idea as it is a requirement set in terms of infrastructure, sporting, personnel and financial obligations that teams need to meet before they can compete.

“In other countries, this process has resulted in lower divisions getting trained. But in Namibia, however, we are implementing it at the Premier League level. This will have a significant impact on club structure, and will put an end to the practice of running clubs on the boot of a car. Additionally, it will address issues such as players signing contracts on the hoods of cars,” he added, while stating that through this workshop, clubs will be empowered to operate more professionally.

Haikali stated that after the workshop, there will be continuous consultations with the clubs, and as they progress, they would also like to provide training for lower division teams so that all can meet the minimum standard. -Nampa