African Stars Football Club and Ramblers Sport Club are set to sign an agreement that will see the two club work together for the next 10 years.
This was confirmed by Sedrick van Turah, the Chairman of Ramblers Sport Club who said details will be communicated soon.
“Ramblers Sport Club acknowledge your enquiry, relevant to the collaboration between us and African Stars. We confirm that we are in discussions and the details pertaining the collaboration will be jointly released to the media in due course,” he said via WhatsApp.
New Era is privy to emails between the two clubs and the Namibia Football Association that suggest negotiations between the two clubs are at an advanced stage.
The agreement will see Star amongst other things ‘adopting’ Ramblers women football team, having the first right of refusal to sign junior players from the Ramblers academy, and development of the Ramblers stadium to make it a 5 000 seater.
Ramblers will ‘adopt’ Stars academy and run the development teams, the agreement suggests.
Ramblers will maintain their first division status, with players who impress in the team getting promoted to Stars team in the premier league, while those deemed excess at Stars will be offered to Ramblers first.
When contacted for comment, Stars chairmen Patrick Kauta did not confirm nor dispute the information, saying if there are any developments from their side, they will make a public announcement.
Efforts to get comment from NFA proved fruitless as the secretary general of the NFA is said to be out of the country.
With the ‘adoption’ of the Ramblers Women’s football team, Stars will fulfil one of the most critical Champions League requirements by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
The continental body requires that any team that participates in the Champions League must have a women’s team and a developmental academy.