Namibia Football Association president Robert Shimooshili has confirmed Namibia’s bid to co-host Afcon 2028, adding that his election to Cosafa’s executive committee will improve Namibia’s chances of success.
Shimooshili was on Sunday elected to Cosafa’s executive committee at it’s elective general assembly in Harare and will serve for a four-year term from 2026 to 2029.
Tariq Babitseng of Botswana was elected unopposed as Cosafa president, and Alfred Randriamananampisoa of Madagascar as vice president, while the new excom members are Shimooshili, Lijane Nthunya of Lesotho, Nqobile Magwizi of Zimbabwe and Peter Simelane of Eswatini. Brenda Kunda of Zambia secured the executive committee’s reserved women’s seat, while Linda Zwane of South Africa and Irene Gonçalves of Angola were co-opted onto the executive committee.
On Sunday, Babitseng said that South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe had made a joint bid for the 2028 edition of Afcon, and yesterday Shimooshili said they are keen to host the event.
“We were approached by South Africa’s ministry of sport who asked if we are willing to co-host Afcon 2028 for the benefit of the four neighbouring countries. From the NFA side we said we dont see a problem and agreed on that, but the final decision must be made by the government of Namibia.
“A lot of infrastructure upgrading will need to be done, because we will need an approved stadium to host Afcon, but we will only need one stadium, because South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe have a lot of infrastructure, so they can host the rest.
“We reported our intention to Namibia’s head of state, as well as the prime minister and the ministry of sport, so now we are waiting for the government. We have been hungry for soccer and football is also getting bigger momentum in our country, so if the government thinks it’s doable, then lets go ahead and do it,” he said.
At this stage Namibia does not have a CAF-approved stadium yet but Shimooshili said it should not be a problem.
“A lot of the countries that bid before didn’t have approved stadiums, even Kenya that is hosting Afcon next year is still busy constructing their stadium. So if CAF considers you, they will set out a roadmap and make inspections on your progress to upgrade your infrastructure.
“The Sam Nujoma Stadium will be our immediate option, because the government has the intention of demolishing the Independence Stadium and then starting a new stadium from scratch, so that one will take time. The Windhoek municipality has already started upgrading the Sam Nujoma Stadium and they indicated that they might finish it by the end of the year, so we are good to go and in any case, we will only host one group,” he added.
Shimooshili said his election to the Cosafa excom will help Namibia’s bid as well as their efforts to improve the game locally.
“My election is not for my personal benefit, it’s for the benefit of Namibia as a whole, but we should feel good and proud of ourselves. There are 14 countries in Cosafa, but only nine positions on the excom, so now we are represented and have an opportunity to contribute and advance Namibia’s interests. We now have the opportunity to do that because if you are on the outside, your opportunities are very limited.”
“Opportunity number one will be training and development for your people, while the second opportunity will be to host Cosafa competitions, ranging from the age groups to the senior national sides,” he added.
“The Namibian people are hungry for soccer and they want to see their national teams playing at home – something which has not happened for several years now. So I will forward Namibia’s case, I will ask the Cosafa leadership if they can do that, I will beg, I will plea, if they can give approval for Namibia to do that. We also have other stadiums like the rugby stadium and the Unam stadium where we hosted the Cosafa u17 women championship last year, but we want to convince Cosafa to allow Namibia to host the senior men’s tournament, because it’s doable,” he said.
