The City of Windhoek yesterday promised to find a solution to the pressing issue of the Sam Nujoma Stadium, which has been declared unfit to host international football matches.
This follows Windhoek Mayor Job Amupanda’s visit to the stadium, where he was briefed on the current state of the facility by Namibia Football Association (NFA) secretary general Franco Cosmos, CoW manager for parks Uakazuvaka Kazombiaze and acting strategic executive for economic development and community services Zurilea Steenkamp.
CoW spokesperson Harold Akwenye told New Era Sport they did observations and will now go back to the drawing board to see how fast they can rehabilitate the facility.
“We will get the right people to slowly work on some of the pressing issues at that stadium, because the mayor doesn’t want football to leave the country,” he said. Last week, the Confederation of African Football hit the NFA with a hefty fine of about N$85 800 for using the dilapidated Sam Nujoma Stadium for international matches. The stadium has been now declared as substandard and no longer fit to host matches.
This means Namibia can no longer host international games at the stadium, which will now see the Brave Warriors play their matches in neighbouring countries.
On his part, Cosmos lauded the City for responding to the urgent situation.
“The mayor took a good approach; he wants to fix what needs to be fixed. He will concentrate on the long-term solutions and will call a meeting with relevant stakeholders, so that they discuss the way forward,” he said.
Cosmos added that they are excited and want Namibia to play here in September.
“The dressing rooms will be tackled as soon as possible as well as the turf situation, which he (Amupanda) thought are crucial, while the seating will be prioritised later,” Cosmos said.
Kazombiaze said the stadium was over utilised.