Maqonda Ndlovu
African Stars Football Club says the signing of Revered Matroos by Khomas Nampol Football Club from Young Brazilians is invalid and is imbued with fraud.
In a letter sent to the acting secretary general of the Normalisation Committee (NC) at the Namibia Football Association(NFA), Stars chairperson Salomo Hei said the registration and transfer of Matroos by Nampol deviates from the NFA Rules and Regulations (R and R) and the Namibian Constitution.
“Without an amendment to the NFA R and R by the Normalisation Committee, it is improper, void and of no force or effect. NFA R and R system was fraudulently tampered with in that someone accessed it without Stars’ permission, and it elected on behalf of Stars to cancel the registration of Matroos,” Hei fumed.
Stars had complained that Nampol ‘hijacked’ Matroos from them after they had agreed terms with the player and his previous club, Young Brazilians.
The defending champions went on to provide transport funds to the player so he could travel from Keetmanshoop to Windhoek to complete his move by signing a contract and getting registered as a Stars player.
Stars then went on to announce the signing of Matroos on social media.
However, Matroos never signed his contract with Stars but rather called his then-club chairman at Young Brazilians, David Kambinda, to inform him that he no longer wanted to sign for Stars but to rather join Khomas Nampol.
Kambinda then cancelled the Stars’ request for the player on the NFA-FIFA E-Connect platform and authorised the request from Nampol instead.
“Unfortunately, the player changed his mind when he got to Windhoek. He told me that he would rather sign for Nampol, as he has always had a relationship with Nampol teams over the years. He told me his heart was with Nampol and requested that I let him go to Nampol,” Kambinda said.
The Young Brazilian boss then reversed Matroos’ request authorisation, and authorised the Nampol request, paving the way for the police team to register the player immediately.
This did not sit well with Stars, who felt dribbled out of the move, forcing them to seek justice from the NFA.
In response, the NFA stated that Stars had not submitted the necessary registration documentation for the NFA to process and endorse the transfer.
This meant the player still belonged to Young Brazilians; hence, they could cancel and approve a new request (which they did to Nampol), who then quickly uploaded the player’s contract with them, his national ID and the player’s registration card.
Hei, however, felt it should have been Stars who cancelled the request, instead of Young Brazilians.
Stars have now written to the NFA to demand the dispute regarding the transfer of Matroos be referred to the Dispute Resolution Chamber.
At the same time, Matroos should not be permitted to play, pending the determination of the matter.
Matroos has already featured twice for his new employers, scoring a contender for goal of the year against Blue Waters this past weekend.