THE Brave Warriors will be the first to carry the burden of national shame when they play their upcoming 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifying home matches in neighbouring South Africa.
Namibia will host Congo (Brazzaville) at Orlando Stadium in Soweto, Johannesburg, pending approval from the Confederation of African Football (Caf).
Match day is tentatively set for between 1 and 4 September.
Subsequent successive home legs against Senegal and Togo in October will also take place in South Africa, which administered Namibia until 1990.
Caf has decommissioned regular Windhoek venues Sam Nujoma Stadium and Independence Stadium for being substandard.
“It is an embarrassment for our nation that we cannot play our home matches at home. The worst part is that we are pumping money into another economy instead of our own, especially during such difficult times,” Namibia Football Association secretary general Franco Cosmos says.
The unsteady Sam Nujoma Stadium has critical structural defects, while the dilapidated Independence Stadium, a colonial era remnant, is disintegrating.
In the case of the former, not even domestic matches will be held there until it is refurbished.
“The Caf inspector said it is very dangerous to play there. When our leagues resume, no matches will be held there,” Cosmos says.
Namibia’s failure to heed repeated warnings from Caf and Fifa to upgrade to or construct international standard facilities, means the country must fork out millions to play its home matches abroad.
The embarrassing situation extends indefinitely to the Brave Gladiators and junior national sides when their international assignments come around, Cosmos says.
The loss of home advantage is another blow to a nation of which the players have hardly kicked a football over the past three years.
“It is going to cost the NFA a lot more than when we are at home. As the host nation, we must take on the costs of the visiting plus our own expenditures over there,” says Cosmos, without providing an exact figure.
On average, it costs roughly over N$1 million to host a senior home international.
That figure is expected to double when staging it on foreign soil.
The projected bill for hosting the upcoming three Brave Warriors home matches in South Africa is around N$3 million, which is more than the combined N$2 million required to upgrade the Windhoek stadiums.
Pulling out of the qualifiers is not an option at this stage, as such a move would likely be met with hefty sanctions from Caf and Fifa, Cosmos says.
“If we don’t play, we will just get more problems with Caf and Fifa. Then we will have more issues than just stadiums,” he says.
Ex-Brave Warriors winger and league title-winning coach Paulus Shipanga is one of many Namibians who did not take the bad news well.
He lambasted the relevant authorities for being callous, and lacking initiative and foresight.
The government owns Independence Stadium, with the Sam Nujoma Stadium residing under the City of Windhoek.
“It’s a disgrace, first of all. We’re not a big country, and we at least should have one top stadium. It’s not impossible. We’re a football nation. It is really very bad from all angles,” Shipanga says.
The stadium furore is by no means unique to Namibia, which is among several African countries barred by the confederation from hosting international matches due to defective stadiums.
Some 22 of the confederation’s 54 member countries are on Caf’s red list with regards to unfit stadia.
Caf moved June’s opening Qatar 2022 qualifiers for Africa until September to accommodate upgrades.
But Namibia has done what comes naturally – nothing.
The following is what some members of the public had to say about the development, or lack of it, on The Namibian’s Facebook and Twitter updates:
Brooklyn Davies – “This type of news is an embarrassment.”
John Nakwaya – “Imagine a country with 14 regions but not even one pitch /playground suitable for international games. That is Namibia after 31 years of independence.”
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