Excitement is building for tomorrow’s Debmarine Namibia Premiership clash between African Stars and Eeshoke Chula Chula with all indications being that the Hage Geingob Stadium will be packed to the rafters.
Chula Chula, competing in the premiership for the first time, have taken the league by storm, drawing huge crowds for their home games at Oshakati Independence Stadium, and now playing in the capital for the first time, another bumper crowd can be expected.
Chula Chula will also play Orlando Pirates at the SKW Stadium on Sunday and Chula Chula chairman Ambrosius Tamila said a lot of fans will travel from the north to support the team.
“We are busy preparing transport with many busses going to Windhoek and we expect about 2 000 supporters will travel from the north, so I’m sure the Hage Geingob Stadium will be filled to capacity,” he said.
“We are very excited, the atmosphere at training has been great, the players are very motivated and ready to take on the Namibian champions,” he added.
Tamila said they are aiming for a win.
“It’s going to be a big test for us to see if we can compete with the best in the league. But football is about miracles and we are ready and prepared to compete against the big teams – we are not afraid of any team and are going there with the aim of collecting three points,” he said.
Chula Chula’s huge fan base has been quite surprising, especially since its their first time in the premiership, but Tamila said they had built up a strong track record.
“We got promoted to the premier league at our first attempt after winning the North East First Division, while we also gained immediate promotion from the Ohangwena second division to the NEFD, so that gave a clear indication to our fans that this is a team with a vision to go far,” he said.
Chula Chula are still unbeaten with two wins and a draw and are currently sixth on the log on seven points – eight behind Khomas Nampol who lead the log on 15 points. They, however, have two matches in hand and can close the gap on the leaders, although they face two tough away matches against Stars and Orlando Pirates on Sunday.
Stars, meanwhile, are third on the log on 10 points, and will be aiming to bounce back after a hesitant start that included a 3-2 defeat to FC Ongos.
African Stars’ executive director, Salomo Heii said they were looking forward to hosting the northern newcomers.
“We welcome Chula Chula and are excited to host them in Windhoek. I hope they survive in the premiership because they have a great fanbase which will help us in our efforts to professionalise the game in Namibia – the league must become a separate professional entity independent from the NFA,” he said.
“We made 7 500 tickets available, but the stadium can accommodate about 8 000 so we hope to sell out. But if we sell out no tickets will be on sale at the stadium, so football fans must please follow our social media platforms where we will inform them of the latest news,” he added.
There has been some confusion regarding ticket sales for the match, with
Stars earlier this week announcing that pre-sold tickets will be available on the Kudukey app at N$50 per person, or for N$100 at the gate.
Stars, however, later announced that due to technical difficulties with the Kudukey App, alternative mobile ticket selling stations had been established where tickets can still be purchased at N$50.
“The App has been up and running for IOS users – there were some problems with Android users, but it should be fixed soon. We have also opened up mobile ticket selling stations, but we doubled the price at the gate so that it can serve as a deterrent, so that people don’t buy tickets at the stadium. We want to avoid any stampedes of latecomers, but it is also a CAF requirement for all licensed clubs to sell their tickets online,” he said.
“We are doing it for the first time and there has been a bit of resistance to change as usual, but we hope it will go soon go smoothly. We are excited and it’s a window of opportunity to professionalise the game in Namibia that we want to optimise,” he added.
