The 2026 MTC HopSol Youth League will commence on Thursday, marking its 10th anniversary. This youth soccer league is a well organised program dedicated to youth development, aiming to uplift and improve communities and individuals.
What began as a hopeful idea to establish a competitive league where young players eagerly look forward to competing on the field year after year has now inspired community members to organise well-structured youth teams to participate annually. League coordinator and Brave Warriors coach Collin Benjamin said the league started with over 750 players, a number that has been steadily increasing as more teams register each year.
“The numbers kept on increasing. In the first year, we had about 800 kids; last year, over 2000 children from all over Windhoek played in the league,” he said.
“Having a youth soccer league run for ten years consecutively demonstrates the importance of such structures in a country’s development plans, especially for nations aiming to compete for top honours internationally. Personally, I am grateful to the former CEO of HopSol Solar Power, Robert Hopperdietzel, for supporting the vision of creating a platform for Namibian children to showcase their talents. Without his support, there would certainly not be a HopSol youth soccer league.”
This year, a total of 115 teams are expected to take the field as the organising committee finalises the fixtures for the upcoming weeks. Cynthea Balzar said that for the youth league to turn 10 years is a significant achievement and a lot of hard work behind the scenes.
“Planning involves more than just arranging the information meeting, selecting match days, and booking fields. It also includes tasks like setting limitations on how many teams can register, organising group structures, deciding on the mode of play, generating player cards, drawing up fixtures, interacting with referees, coaches and teams, and closing off each weekend with results,” said Balzar.
Further stating, “The 2026 season will be different from the normal season, as we will celebrate the 10th anniversary with several outside tournaments and internal competitions. Going further, I trust that our sponsor will see the effort that we put into this event, not only to be a platform for youth development but also to take the name of the sponsor to the community.”
Benjamin takes pride in the fact that the league has been able to produce young talent who have taken their careers seriously and moved on to the Premier League and beyond.
“There are students who are at tertiary Institutions studying in Namibia and abroad who played in the league. That makes me proud. Some players also played for the Brave Warriors and Brave Gladiators. The league can be proud to have played a part in the lives of these young Namibians,” he shared.
“This year, a significant number of players joined the men’s Namibia Football Association (NFA) league structures. After 10 years, this means some of these players have already played in the league as an Under-9 player.”
The coach feels that more still needs to be done to support grassroots development in the country. “The NFA obviously can’t do it by itself, but if we can come to a point where every talent in the four corners of this country is given a chance, that will be huge for us as Namibians. So yes, let’s all push with the little at our disposal.”
In 2020, the league received much-needed support from Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC), which committed a substantial amount to help the league continue running efficiently.
-slunyangwe@nepc.com.na