Events at the Namibia Football Association (NFA) Football House in Katutura are on the brink of resembling those of a haunted house, as the association’s leadership is currently embroiled in a fresh dispute with the Brave Gladiators over unpaid wages.
Brave Gladiators’ poster girl and one of Namibia’s highly-decorated female footballers, Zenatha Coleman, this week took to social media to vent and expose how the NFA has been treating the girls, saying they are yet to receive their wages from their last 2022 Africa Women’s Cup of Nations’ (AWCON) qualifying matches.
Coleman, who plies her trade professionally for Spanish premier division side Sevilla, said the players are running out of patience with the way the NFA leadership conducts itself, and with how the association is keeping the players in the dark with regards to the way forward.
“I may not be the captain of the Brave Gladiators anymore, but I will always voice out for my players. They have done their job, they won away and home in the qualifiers [AWCON], and still haven’t got paid. If the girls can’t be paid, then why is there even a women’s national team?” questioned an infuriated Coleman.
Other prominent Gladiators players such as Annouscka Kordom, who plays for Israeli Premier League club Hapoel Be’er Sheva, also took to Facebook to defend Coleman’s stance, further amplifying their call for the NFA to come forth and settle their outstanding wages.
“We see these things, and we have been quiet for years. We are just speaking up for ourselves…Zenatha is voicing how she feels and standing up for her players,” said Kordom in one of her Facebook interactions.
Just a few weeks ago, this publication reported that the Brave Warriors, which is the men’s national side, are faced with the same predicament as they are yet to receive their wages from their last four 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifiers.
And just like their female counterparts, they too do not know when they will receive their outstanding monies as there has been no formal communication from the association.
“Yes, they have not yet paid our appearance fees from the last World Cup qualifiers we played. We do not know what is happening, as no one is communicating with us. We are just hearing that the NFA does not have money at the moment, but what now? At least they should provide a date as to when they will pay us; we also have bills and families to take care of. It’s not a good situation at all. When we raise our voices against these issues, then they want to victimise us,” said one of the players on condition of anonymity.
Contacted for comment yesterday on the issue of outstanding wages of both the Warriors and Gladiators, NFA secretary general Franco Cosmos did not respond to questions sent him, despite his WhatsApp indicating that he did indeed receive and view the questions.
- ohembapu@nepc.com.na