Despite most teams aiming to lift the coveted Nedbank Namibian Newspaper Cup trophy, the Kavango East region also hopes to have more of their players called up for the shadow under-20 national team.
“Our objectives are two for this year’s edition. One is to lift the trophy for the first time as the Kavango East region, and we want to put more players in the national under-20 shadow team,” Kavango East Football Association chairperson Patrick Mukoya tells The Namibian Sport.
With just nine days before the Newspaper Cup kicks off, Mukoya says: “We are faced with a lot of issues in terms of preparation. The lack of financial assistance drags everything backwards, and . . . we made sure the selection was properly done and made some improvements on the previous preparations.”
During the 2025 edition, the Kavango East region entered the competition with high expectations to improve on their 2024 runner-up spot.
Having trained heavily for the tournament at Outjo, Kavango East were noted for a strong performance after reaching the final in 2024. Last year, they defeated Omaheke 40-21 in the netball final, though the men’s football team failed to progress to the final stages of the tournament.
Mukoya says the regional side is boosted by the players who were at Outjo, and are retained for this year’s edition.
“The team has retained quite a good number of last year’s squad who will bring a lot of experience to the current team,” he says.
“We are prepared to face any team that comes our way. This is football, and anything can happen. We will take the matches seriously as they come and approach them differently.”
Kavango East is in group A along with the Hardap, Omaheke and Otjozondjupa regions, in what many critics are calling the “group of death” of this year’s Nedbank Namibian Newspaper Cup.
Among the group A contenders, every region except the Kavango East region has lifted the trophy; the Kavango region itself won the cup in 2014 before the region was split.
The Omaheke region won in 2018, Otjozondjupa in 2017 and Hardap in 2006.
LACK OF BUSINESS SUPPORT
Mukoya says: “As for now, we haven’t received any support from the business people for our preparations, even though we have sent more letters out for support. We have not received any feedback yet, and this is one of the issues we are faced with during preparations.”
He says apart from the poor support, the trials conducted were free and fair. “All constituencies participated in the Governor’s Cup, where the selection of players was done.”
Mukoya says they have received support from the regional council office and from the governor, Hamunyera Hambyuka.
He adds that the team is still using their old playing gear, as financial constraints have prevented them from acquiring new jerseys.
“It is a challenge to get new playing gear because we relied too much on external support. The technical team is in place, starting with the head of the delegation, team manager, coaches, kit manager and medic.
“We deemed it necessary that medics are a priority due to the training that the players have to undergo. All the people in these key positions are qualified coaches with coaching licences. The selection of the technical team was properly and fairly done based on merit,” says Mukoya.
He says: “Our preparations have focused on the competition, and to compete for the championship title. We have trust in the technical team as well as in the players. What we are looking at is the resources we have at our disposal and to put it to good use.”
He says the main challenge in preparing the team has been insufficient support, including difficulties in obtaining regional attire for officials and players, as well as other forms of assistance, which have delayed preparations and hindered the squad from performing at its best.
“But we are ready with whatever we have, and we will push for our objectives,” says Mukoya.
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