WINDHOEK – Despite thousands of local football enthusiasts eagerly awaiting a response regarding the NFA’ s failure to register the Under-23 team for the 2015 African Championship, NFA Secretary-General, Barry Rukoro, yesterday refused to shed light on the ongoing debacle, saying the saga will only be discussed at this weekend’s Elective Congress.
In September this year, thousands of local football fans were shocked to learn that the Namibian Olympic team was omitted from the competition’s draw held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
It was later reported that an NFA senior official failed or ‘forgot’ to register the team in time for this highly important continental tourney. However, although Jakes Amaning, the team’s manager indicated at the time that it was just a ‘small technical error’ from the side of CAF and not the NFA, the matter remains unresolved.
“I cannot discuss this matter with the media at this point in time because it will be handled at this weekend’s NFA Elective Congress, so for protocol reasons, I can’t shed light on that. After the congress, I’m sure you will get all the answers as the matter is already featuring on the agenda,” said Rukoro.
Rukoro’s comments come on the heels of Namibia going out of its way to fork out close to N$800,000 to send the team on a two-week long preparatory tour to Accra, Ghana in August this year, in addition to other preparatory platforms provided to the Olympic team including the 4-Nations Tourney in Swakopmund earlier this year among many training camps.
The CAF U-23 Championship is held every four years with the top three teams earning automatic qualification to the quadrennial Olympic Games.
The 4th placed finisher engages in the play-off against a team from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the final berth. The youth tournament is slated for the Democratic Republic of Congo on December 5-19 next year.
By Otniel Hembapu