Top-class international youth soccer will be on display this weekend when the inaugural Hophydro Cup Namibia will be staged at the Collin Benjamin Soccer Arena.
Mamelodi Sundowns of South Africa and FC Nurnberg from Germany will compete in the u18 tournament against the Collin Benjamin Soccer Talents (CBST) and the Khomas u18 team.
The tournament is the brainchild of Robert Hopperdietzel, the former owner of Hopsol Namibia, who started the Hopsol Youth Football League about 10 years ago with Collin Benjamin, the owner of CBST as well as the current coach of the Brave Warriors.
The Hopsol Youth League has grown from strength to strength with MTC also coming on board as a sponsor and now caters for more than 2 000 players from about 120 teams.
Hopperdietsel, meanwhile, sold Hopsol but started a new company Hophydro Energy, which develops green hydrogen products in Namibia, and currently employs about 10 000 people in the Erongo region.
At a press conference in Windhoek yesterday Hopperdietzel said they decided to take youth football to a higher level through the Hophydro Cup Namibia.
“The Hopsol Youth League is great, but Collin and I thought how can we improve on it. The Hopsol League is a national tournament so the next level is international and that’s how the idea was born for the Hophydro Cup Namibia,” he said.
“Many months ago we started thinking who we can invite and now we have found two top teams – Mamelodi Sundowns who are the South African champions and the junior team of FC Nurnberg, which plays in the German Bundesliga. They will play against the CBST and a Khomas selection team,” he added.
Hopperdietzel said it took a lot of hard work and dedication to organise the tournament.
“It was a lot of work, we had about 25 people involved in the organising and we needed international experts and sponsors to get the teams here. The total budget amounts to about N$4 million, of which Hophydro Namibia will contribute about two thirds, while local and international sponsors will cover the rest,” he added.
Long term vision
Hopperdietzel said they had a long term vision of uplifting the standard of youth football in Namibia with regular international competition.
“In future we will not necessarily always have teams from Germany and South Africa and we already made contact with other countries like Angola and it might be teams from South America, but the idea is that we always get some top international teams here, so that we can find out where we stand with youth soccer in Namibia and how we can derive measures to improve and keep up with international levels,” he said.
“The idea is that we play a national cup tournament during the year, with the winners qualifying for the next year’s Hophydro Cup to play against top international teams. We have achieved a lot with the MTC Hopsol Youth Soccer League but I think more is possible, and we have to think even further, so let’s think about the Brave Warriors. My dream is that one day with this coach here (Collin Benjamin) the Brave Warriors will play at the Fifa World Cup. They are doing very well in the qualifying competition now so let’s hold thumbs, but if it doesn’t work out this year, it will work out some time in the future,” he added.
“We are trying to develop professional youth development structures to enable our youth and one day when they are bigger and stronger and better than us we can say, mission accomplished,” he said.
Benjamin said the tournament created a platform for local players to display their skills to a wider audience.
“A tournament like this is a platform where the players can present themselves – the platform is created, experts are coming, so they need to take this opportunity and do the work,” he said.
“It’s also for local coaches to come and watch and see the level of top u18 players from Germany and South Africa, and see what we lack and ewhat we need to improve upon,” he added.
Henrico Botes, coach of the CBST said he and his technical team played an important role in the development of the young players.
“This tournament will give our young boys an opportunity to compete at a higher level. My job is to coach and develop and teach them, not just about football, but also about life, because most of the boys are from outside Windhoek, so they stay in the hostel and we are everything to them – their fathers, mothers and uncles. Some days are better than others, but we try and like I always say, wherever you are, just do your best,” he said.
The Hophydro Namibia Cup will be staged at the Collin Benjamin Soccer Arena next to Jan Mohr Secondary School, starting at 16h00 on Friday when CBST take on Sundowns, to be followed by the official opening ceremony with DJ Spuzza.
The tournament continues on Saturday and Sunday with all the teams playing each other on a round robin basis, to be concluded with the prizegiving ceremony at 14h00 on Sunday. Entrance is free of charge and there will be lots of entertainment and food and drinks available.
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