The Fifa-appointed Normalisation Committee for the Namibia Football Association (NFA) will today continue with its roundtable mediation efforts when a second consultative meeting with members of both the Namibia Premier League (NPL) and the Namibia Premier Football League (NPFL) takes place at the NFA Football House in Katutura. 

Today’s meeting is a follow up to the association’s last consultative meeting that was held in the capital on 14 March on the sidelines of the Cosafa elective congress, which was overseen by Caf president Patrice Motsepe. 

At that meeting, following marathon deliberations between the normalisation committee, members of the two leagues, Motsepe and his Caf delegation, it was decided that each league will send four delegates to today’s consultative meeting for further discussions on the way forward for Namibian football.

In an invite dated 31 May 2022 sent to members of both leagues, the normalisation committee’s chairman Bisey /Uirab said the meeting will mainly focus on three vital points: formulate funding proposals for domestic football, identify challenges that are stopping football from starting and propose concrete solutions to those problems, and to identify if it’s practically possible to start the 2022/23 football season in the coming months.

The invited delegates from both leagues will be expected to pitch workable proposals around those key points to the normalisation committee, with the biggest focus being on finding a lasting solution to inadequate funding for local football. 

During last month’s press conference, where the normalisation committee shared with the media the state of affairs at the NFA, /Uirab said one of their biggest objectives as a committee is to rescue the association from the crippling debts that are well over N$23 million, and hinted that a self-sustaining premier league that seeks no direct funding from the already financially struggling NFA, would be a great starting point. 

- ohembapu@nepc.com.na