The national senior men’s futsal team, the Brave 5, defeated Kenya 10-7 yesterday in the second leg of Round One of the 2026 Futsal Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers, played in Nairobi, Kenya.
Namibia went into the encounter with a solid advantage after securing an 8-4 victory over Kenya in the first leg, which was played last Friday in Swakopmund.
The Brave 5 opened the scoring within six minutes of the first half through captain Ken Salote. Kenya responded three minutes later with an equaliser from Mark Shaban.
Nanguei Kamatuka restored Namibia’s lead with a second goal, but Shaban struck again for Kenya to level the score at 2-2. By half-time, Kenya led the match 5-4, although Namibia maintained a 12-9 aggregate advantage.
In the second half, both teams scored once before Namibia regained control of the game. Melvin Otto equalised to make it 6-6, after which the Brave 5 went on to score four more goals. The match ended 10-7 in Namibia’s favour, sealing an 18-11 aggregate victory.
Speaking ahead of the match, head coach Marcos Antunes described the encounter as highly strategic, emphasising the need for intelligent play. “The ultimate prize is getting to Morocco and doing well in the group stages. We want to qualify and winning this match was important,” said Antunes.
Namibia will now face Libya in Round Two of the qualifiers, with the first leg scheduled for 4 February in Namibia and the second leg set for 8 February in Libya. Round Two will determine which team qualifies for the CAF Futsal AFCON to be held in Morocco in April.
