Namibia qualifies for Afcon 

Both Namibia’s men and women’s hockey teams have qualified for the 2025 Afcon championships after completing their final group matches at the Central-South Africa qualifier in Harare yesterday. 

Namibia’s women, who earlier won their opening two matches against Eswatini (20-0) and Zimbabwe (5-0), faced their toughest opposition to date when they were held to a 1-1 draw by Zambia.

Zambia started strongly, forcing some fine saves from Namibian keeper Berencia Diamond, but Namibia upped the tempo with some circle penetrations by the third quarter. 

Their, finishing, however was poor, while Zambian keeper Priscilla Chipolepole also brought off a stunning point-blank save.

Namibia finally opened their account five minutes into the final quarter when Anine le Roux’s shot was parried away by Chipolepole, but Adore Meyer pounced to put the loose ball into the net.  

Namibia’s celebrations had hardly subsided, though, before Zambia drew level. They immediately attacked from the restart and their impressive striker Carol Nakambe equalised when she rounded Namibian substitute keeper Petro Stoffberg to put the ball into an empty net. 

Both teams had more chances in the final minutes, and Namibia thought they had won it when Marika Neethling scored off the final penalty corner, but the goal was disallowed for an earlier infringement. 

Despite the draw, Namibia finished on the top of the log to qualify for Afcon 2025 as well as for the final of the Central-South Africa Africa qualifier where they will meet Zimbabwe this afternoon. 

Namibia completed their league campaign on seven points from three matches, followed by Zimbabwe on six points, after they beat Eswatini 13-0 in their final group match yesterday. 

Despite the outcome of today’s final, Zimbabwe as the second-placed team, have now also qualified for the 2025 Afcon championships.

Zambia finished third on the log on four points, while Eswatini finished bottom of the log on zero points.

Namibia’s men had already qualifed for Afcon 2025 after winning their opening two matches against Eswatini (26-0) and Zimbabwe (5-2), but they made sure of finishing on top of the log after a clinical 5-0 victory against Zambia yesterday. 

David Britz gave Namibia an early lead when he put away a loose ball in the box, but Zambia came back strongly, winning some short corners, but they could not convert due to poor finishing. 

Namibia’s defence, with Ernest Jacobs in fine form, however, weathered the early attacks and they finally took control with three goals within four minutes in the third quarter. 

Brynn Cleak first pounced to put a loose ball away after fine build-up play by Liam Hermanus, and then a minute later, Namibia won a penalty and Hermanus stepped up to score from the spot. 

Barely two minutes later it was 4-0 when they won another penalty and Hermanus added his second goal from the spot, while Fagan Hansen made it 5-0 with a deflected shot in the final quarter. 

That saw Namibia finishing on top of the log on nine points from three matches, to qualify for today’s final where they will once again meet Zambia, who finished second on six points.