WINDHOEK – In a desperate bid to lure the dwindling crowds back to football matches in the country’s domestic flagship league, the MTC Premiership, the league’s principal sponsor MTC is to introduce drastic measures to fill up empty stadiums.
MTC Chief Human Capital and Corporate Affairs Officer, Tim Ekandjo, revealed during the live broadcast of the NPL launch in Windhoek last night that MTC has resolved to engage marketing students from Unam to identity problems relating to people staying away from local football matches.
“Of course, we remain committed to support Namibian football, notably the Premier League but at the same time we are also worried about the games played in empty stadiums – which does not augur well for the product and what we aim to achieve.”
NPL charismatic chairman Johnny ‘JJD’ Doeseb echoed Ekandjo’s sentiments and urged clubs campaigning in the country’s top flight league to step up efforts and mobilize their supporters to come out en masse.
Doeseb shot down suggestions that the decision to increase the league from 12 to 16 teams will lower the standards. “If one looks carefully at our demographic dispensation, one will notice that our league is not a true reflection of Namibia’s inhabitants.”
He also announced that the NPL would not be hosting the customary season’s pipe-opening tournament, the NPL League Cup this year. The tourney will now be replaced by the newly introduced Top 8 competition.
Meanwhile, the total sponsorship money has been increased from N$14.2 million last year to N$16.5 million for the current term.
Interestingly, Namibia and Botswana are both in sixth position as the highest sponsored leagues on the African continent.
It was also announced that negotiations are at an advanced stage between the NPL/MTC and the national broadcaster NBC to have MTC Premiership matches broadcast live this season.