Birds are back!

QUINTUPLE Premiership champions Blue Waters are back in top-flight football after pipping fellow challengers Friends to the post with a 2-0 win over Monitronic College in Karibib on Saturday.

Blue Waters now joins United Stars from Rundu in the promotion basket, after Mighty Gunners and Chief Santos were relegated from the premiership last season.Friends won their match 1-0 against Invincible, giving Blue Waters the chance to get through by a better goal difference.The ”Beautiful Birds’ as they are affectionately known at the harbour town, were relegated last season and will now form part of the 12-team NPL league.Blue Waters coach Lucky Shipanga earlier this year promised the fans that the team will be promoted to the premiership this season – and that commitment was realised on Saturday.At the time, he said despite having a lot of young players in the team, they always showed character and a fighting spirit, which now ensured them a spot back into the league.The only senior players left in the side are defenders Fischer Kalimba and Gottlieb Nakuta as well as striker Armando Pedro.Shipanga, who is a former player for the team, also reached the quarter-finals of the Cell One NFA Cup with the same squad earlier this year, but his biggest victory is surely the entry he gained to the top league.Before relegation last season, Blue Waters remained one of the powerhouses of domestic football and since 1985, they have won the championship five times.They have captured the title in 1986, 1988, 1996, 2000 and 2003 and are joint on five with Black Africa who have scooped it in 1989, 1994 (special category), 1995, 1998 and 1999. The premiership season starts in the second week of September.corry@namibian.com.na