The 2023 Bank Windhoek Fistball League will kick off tomorrow at the Sport Klub Windhoek (SKW) sportsgrounds. The event will include matches in the Under-14 and u-18 leagues, and a tournament for the Under-11s.

With a modified league and playoff format, teams are pumped-up for the new season. As was the case between 2003 and 2017, the National A and National B Leagues will be played separately from the start. 

The current league champions and runners-up – Cohen Fistball Club (CFC) 1 and CFC 2 – and the record champions, SKW 1 and Swakopmund Fistball Club (SFC) 1, will compete in the National A League. The matches will be played best out of seven sets, and winning a game earns a team three points, while winning one or more sets earns a bonus point for the losing side.

For the next six weeks, SKW will be reinforced by the Austrian Bundesliga player Fabian Greifeneder, focusing on youth development and playing for SKW 1. 

It remains to be seen how the first team from CFC, who suffered their last league defeat in the third league round in 2019, will fare.

In the National B League, the newly-crowned opening cup winner SFC 2, club colleagues SFC 3, and three teams from SKW and the third reserve of CFC will meet. The league format is carried out by playing best out three sets in a round-robin fixture. 

Here, too, a match victory bags three points. Since the defending champion SKW 1 will play in the National A League from this season onwards, the cards will be reshuffled. SFC 2 turned out to be a successful cup contender over the years. 

However, the Swakopmund-based team often showed poor performance in the league. The youth teams from SKW proved to be the best the past season. However, with the newly-founded Under- 18 league, the field is getting longer and the net higher.

Another highlight of the first league round will be the announcement of the men’s national team. 

Namibia will compete at the World Championships in Mannheim, Germany from 22 to 29 July.