…pre-season tourney planned
Otniel Hembapu
In a memo issued on Friday and sent to all members of the Namibia Football Association (NFA), the local football governing body’s secretary general Franco Cosmos said the kick off date for the envisaged Namibia Premier Football League (NPFL) will be in April.
The NPFL is a NFA league established by the association to replace the expelled Namibia Premier League (NPL). Late last year, it was reported that the NPFL will kick off in January this year but that did not happen and it was again reported that the NPFL will start this month [February] just immediately after the conclusion of the African Nations Championship (Chan), where Namibia also participated – but that has also not happened.
On Friday, for the umpteenth time now, the NFA communicated that the kick off date for the NPFL will be 17 April and before the new league gets underway, a pre-season tournament will be held towards the end of March to ready the teams for the new league.
Structural mishaps still face the new NPFL as some clubs are still heavily divided on whether to join the NFA league or remain with the NPL, which is still fighting to have its expulsion uplifted by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland.
The expelled NPL had previously indicated that it is prepared to go the full length and to all available legal avenues to have all its activities restored, even if their appeal with CAS fails to yield the desired outcome.
Last week, it was reported that some clubs in the NFA’s NPFL are running out of patience and getting frustrated with the ever changing kick off dates of the new premiership, as such uncertainty is making it impossible for them to plan accordingly.
As for the pre-season tournament planned for March, the memo said the NFA will look into modalities and budgets will be communicated in due course to all members.
ohembapu@nepc.com.na