WINDHOEK – The stage is set for the opening ceremony of the much-anticipated TN Mobile CAF Women’s Championship and Namibia is certainly ready to lay out the red carpet for the visiting teams and dignitaries.
And judging by the near faultless operations during the opening day of the modest accreditation centre holed up at the spacious Namibia Football Association (NFA) Football House in Namibia’s largest residential township, Katutura, the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) appears to be burning the midnight oil to stage an unforgettable spectacle never seen before in this neck of the woods.
With hordes of foreign journalists arriving en masse from various countries for the continental showpiece – the accreditation centre has been a hive of activity since the opening day on Sunday.
The chairperson of accreditation Roger Kambatuku expressed satisfaction with the logistics and believes Namibia has what it takes to stage a faultless event and silence the prophets of doom who have already started writing obituaries for the host nation before a single ball has been kicked.
Meanwhile, 26 match referees and assistants have arrived in the country and were subjected to a fitness test on Sunday. Quizzed to reveal the outcome of the results from the fitness tests, Boy-Boy Ndjadila, the NFA referees’ coordinator was cagey saying he was not at liberty to reveal the results as it could put some people at ease.
In the meantime, South Africa, Zambia, Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire are all expected to arrive in Windhoek this week.
Hosts Namibia open their assault in the two-week tourney with a date against Zambia on Saturday at the Sam Nujoma Stadium. Algeria, Ghana and Cameroon have already arrived in Namibia for the eight-nation biannual championship.
Upon inquiry by New Era Sport as to why some of the participating nations have not applied for travelling visas within their respective countries of origin, an LOC official said most of the participating nations would arrive in Namibia via South Africa, and poured cold water on the apparent ‘confusion’.
“Some of these countries scheduled training camps in South Africa and thought it wise to apply for visas through the Namibian High Commissioner in Pretoria, South Africa,” said the official.