There will be no Debmarine Premiership action this weekend because the Namibia Football Association (NFA) has anticipated that the Brave Warriors would be involved in the Africa Nations Championship (Chan) qualifiers.
The premier action will resume on 30 September, NFA acting secretary general Jochen Traut told Desert Radio on Wednesday.
Traut said the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has not conducted the draw for the Chan qualifiers, and it remains unclear when this would be done.
“We are awaiting communication from the Confederation of African Football with regard to the Chan competition.
“Unfortunately it’s not happening, and there’s been no communication from the continental football body. So, it will be a free weekend for the clubs as we look forward to next weekend’s fixtures,” Traut said.
“That [Chan qualifiers] is the reason why we do not have league matches this coming weekend.
“Chan is for local-based players only, and we could have had a situation where more than three players from a club are called up, which may have affected some clubs,” the NFA senior official explained.
With regard to the much-maligned double headers format employed by the Debmarine Namibia Premier Football League, Traut said that was agreed upon by the clubs.
The double headers help alleviate costs and the long-distance clubs need to travel to honour matches.
Premier division and first division teams are expected to cover over 450 000km by road during the 2023/24 season.
“Nobody wants it, but with the lack of money we are faced with, we have to save more because of the travelling and accommodation expenses,” Traut said.
He also touched on the FNB Women’s Super League, which is expected to kick off in early November.
That is to accommodate the busy international schedule of the Brave Gladiators in September and October.
The Gladiators got off to a great start when they beat the Gambia 3-2 in a first-leg Olympic qualification clash in Morocco last night.
They will then turn their attention to the Cosafa Women’s Championship in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 3 to 14 October, before taking on Morocco between 23 and 31 October in the second qualification round for the 2024 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
