BRAVE Gladiators captain Zenatha Coleman has challenged her compatriots to take their football careers to another level during Friday’s historic Skorpion Zinc NFA Women’s Super league awards.
She said being content with playing at home and then “hanging in the streets” would not advance their careers or women’s football in the country.
However, moving abroad would allow Namibia to become more competitive at competitions like the upcoming Cosafa women’s championship for which Coleman, USA-based Annouscka Kordom and Veweziwa Kotjipati, who plays in Germany, have been summoned to reinforce the Brave Gladiators.
“I want to see more girls from Namibia in Europe. Get out of the streets of Katutura, and make your dream come true,” the Valencia forward said.
“I saw that there was no future for me in the streets when I was at Keetmanshoop, so I made a choice to take football seriously and change my life,” she added.
The decision to sponsor the super league was to ensure female footballers have a launchpad to success just like what their male counterparts enjoy through the MTC Namibia Premiership, said Nora Ndopu, corporate affairs manager at Skorpion Zinc.
“It’s time for the women to shine. When we signed this agreement last year, success and commitment was embedded in that agreement. We knew the public would be looking at this partnership with a third eye to see if the women will deliver, and yes they did successfully,” she added.
“Both parties were committed to making this work so that the real beneficiaries would be impacted in what value the league brings.”
The ceremony marked a landmark occasion for the perennially financially marginalised women’s game, which received a huge boost from mining company Skorpion Zinc, who last year partnered Fifa to invest N$1 million over two seasons to resuscitate the women’s super league.
“I understand that never before has there been an awards ceremony for women’s football in Namibia. Thank you Skorpion Zinc for looking after our girls,” said sports minister Erastus Uutoni in his keynote address.
“This is what we want. We want our women to be treated equal to our men. Whatever the men get, the women should also get,” he added.
Defender Emma Naris of champions Tura Magic was crowned the best player of the season. The Brave Gladiators vice captain beat fellow defender Ndapewa Katuta and young forward Beverly Uueziua to the top prize on a momentous night for women’s football in the country.
Katuta and Uueziua picked up the players’ player and best young player of the season prizes, respectively.
An elated Naris said the award would motivate her to perform better.
“I am very happy to receive this award. If it wasn’t for my teammates, I wouldn’t be able to be in this position. So, a big thank you to them. I will definitely work hard for my team, and hope that we keep winning,” Naris told The Namibian Sport.
Tura Magic goal machine Anne-Marie Shikusho took the top scorer award, with her coach Shama Gure named the best gaffer for the season. Melissa Matheus completed the Magician’s dominance of the individual prizes when collecting the best goalkeeper of the season award.
Other winners on the night included Vistorina Shangula (best match official); Antoinette Tsuses (best team manger); Namib Daughters (team of the season) and Helge Schütz (best journalist).
