Infantino visit postponed 

FIFA president Gianni Infantino’s visit to Namibia has been postponed till further notice, the Namibia Football Association (NFA) announced yesterday.

Infantino was supposed to make a first-ever trip to Namibia this coming Sunday, 9 November, along with Fifa secretary general Mattias Grafström, but it has now been postponed to a later, unconfirmed date, says the NFA.

“The NFA regrets to announce the postponement of the official visit by Fifa president Gianni Infantino… His visit, which forms part of a planned six-nation tour through southern Africa has been deferred due to unforeseen changes in his official schedule,” it says.

NFA interim general secretary Cassius Moeitie says they are working in collaboration with the Fifa regional office in southern Africa to secure a new date for the visit.

“We are looking forward to welcoming Infantino at the earliest possible opportunity to continue strategic conversations on domestic and international football development for the young boys and girls and the implementation of Fifa forward projects in Namibia,” he says.

“The NFA has engaged various stakeholders in the government, the City of Windhoek and private and public sector companies to support the NFA with various logistical arrangements in making sure that the arrival of the Fifa president is memorable and a resounding success. We extend our sincere apologies for any inconvenience this postponement may have caused to all our trusted stakeholders,” he adds.

NFA president Robert Shimooshiili has not shared much information on the postponement.

“Something urgent came up at the last minute, but the visit has not been cancelled, it has just been postponed. We don’t have a new date yet, but he will still visit some southern African countries, starting off with Namibia.”

Shimooshili says he has a good relationship with both Infantino and Fifa.

“We had a good chat with Infantino at the Confederation of African Football congress in the Democratic Republic of the Congo – it was Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia and Malawi. From my side, and on behalf of Namibia, we have a good relationship with the Fifa leadership. We understand one another, they understand our ideology, our objectives and the way we are doing things,” he adds.

Infantino’s visit will be the second by a Fifa president to Namibia since Sepp Blatter’s visit in 2003 which coincided with the inauguration of the NFA Soccer House, which was funded by Fifa.

“We received funding from Fifa for the NFA headquarters, while they also sponsored phase one of the NFA technical centres,” Shimooshili says.

NFA TECHNICAL CENTRE TO BE REOPENED

Shimooshili adds that the technical centre will be reopened soon.

“We initially closed the NFA technical centre because the plan was to hold a youth tournament there over the weekend, while Infantino would have handed out the prizes on Sunday. But now he’s not coming anymore so the technical centre will open very soon, probably today or tomorrow,” he says.

Shimooshili says Namibia is held in high regard by Fifa.

“Fifa have 211 member countries and there is no way for him to visit all those countries, so it is a sign that Namibia is highly regarded by Fifa, and that’s why Namibia was included as the first country to be visited by Fifa.

“Namibia was recently also appointed on two important sub committees of Fifa – futsal and the social responsibility committee – where they looked at the requirements and the quality of those countries. Namibia was selected on merit. Namibia has done well at Afcon, and it has produced quality players,” he says

However, he adds that negative comments on social media are destroying the country’s image.

“There are a lot of negative comments on social media which is tarnishing the image of the NFA, but what people don’t realise is that it is also tarnishing the image of the country.”

He says Namibians need to do better, particularly those in the football fraternity.

“Those who are spreading negativity through social media must refrain from doing that because they are being unpatriotic and they are tarnishing Namibia’s name,” he adds.

Shimooshili says they are working on a number of projects with Fifa, including one to develop the NFA technical centre plot.

He adds that the NFA has engaged the City of Windhoek to donate or lease the technical centre plot for a long term.

“Once that is done, Fifa will make money available to develop that land. It will be for domestic use and some international competitions like women’s football because they have a different category in terms of approval of stadiums,” he says.

“It’s a significant project and it’s important to note that it is Fifa pushing us to do that, because there’s money lying there. The only problem is that our association does not have the land. If we could have that, that development could already kick off,” he adds.

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.