League starts Nov 6

THE Namibia Football Association (NFA) yesterday announced that the overdue domestic season will start on November 6.

The announcement was confirmed by both the chief executive officer of the NFA, Barry Rukoro, and Namibia Premier League (NPL) media officer Meke Namindo at a joint press conference yesterday. Namindo said the registration of players will close on November 6, a day before the league starts.She said fixtures will be drawn up soon and will be communicated to the clubs after an agreement on the sponsorship deal was reached between the NFA and the Namibia Football Consortium (NFC).After protracted negotiations on the funding of the game, the NFA and the NFC finally agreed to add N$600 000 to the N$8 million that is currently being pumped into the game each year.The NPL will receive the biggest share of N$4,3 million from the new deal, while a slight increase of N$5 000 has been made to the start-up capital of teams in that league.Previously, NPL teams received a N$10 000 grant a month, but will now each get N$15 000 a month, which the NFC and NFA described as “a significant improvement”.Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC), which has been bringing N$4 million a year to the table compared to N$2 million each by the other two partners, has agreed to add the N$600 000.FLATLY REFUSED The other two consortium partners, Namibia Breweries Limited (NBL) and First National Bank (FNB), refused to up their contribution and stuck to the N$2 million they fork out each year.NFC spokesman Albertus Aochamub said MTC realised that inflation has had a negative impact on the various activities of football and thus decided to increase the amount.Aochamub was quick to point out that the consortium wanted a proper business plan presented to them in order to plan for next season already.”We need to know what the needs are well ahead.Their budgets should be presented to us so we can plan accordingly,” said Aochamub, in view of the delayed league which was supposed to start on September 12.He said he does not want a repeat of this year’s protracted negotiations on funding.Rukoro said the breakdown of the funding towards the various projects in football will be given at a later stage.Also, Rukoro announced that the parties agreed to open up for other sponsors to come on board for especially the national team and the junior teams, subject to the conditions of the two parties in terms of branding and related aspects.Namindo said the registration of players will close on November 6, a day before the league starts.She said fixtures will be drawn up soon and will be communicated to the clubs after an agreement on the sponsorship deal was reached between the NFA and the Namibia Football Consortium (NFC).After protracted negotiations on the funding of the game, the NFA and the NFC finally agreed to add N$600 000 to the N$8 million that is currently being pumped into the game each year.The NPL will receive the biggest share of N$4,3 million from the new deal, while a slight increase of N$5 000 has been made to the start-up capital of teams in that league.Previously, NPL teams received a N$10 000 grant a month, but will now each get N$15 000 a month, which the NFC and NFA described as “a significant improvement”.Mobile Telecommunications Limited (MTC), which has been bringing N$4 million a year to the table compared to N$2 million each by the other two partners, has agreed to add the N$600 000.FLATLY REFUSED The other two consortium partners, Namibia Breweries Limited (NBL) and First National Bank (FNB), refused to up their contribution and stuck to the N$2 million they fork out each year.NFC spokesman Albertus Aochamub said MTC realised that inflation has had a negative impact on the various activities of football and thus decided to increase the amount.Aochamub was quick to point out that the consortium wanted a proper business plan presented to them in order to plan for next season already.”We need to know what the needs are well ahead.Their budgets should be presented to us so we can plan accordingly,” said Aochamub, in view of the delayed league which was supposed to start on September 12.He said he does not want a repeat of this year’s protracted negotiations on funding.Rukoro said the breakdown of the funding towards the various projects in football will be given at a later stage.Also, Rukoro announced that the parties agreed to open up for other sponsors to come on board for especially the national team and the junior teams, subject to the conditions of the two parties in terms of branding and related aspects.