NFA clarifies Afcon benefits

The Brave Warriors will receive a hefty pay packet for their participation at the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) 2023, while the Namibia Football Association (NFA) will also benefit handsomely following Namibia’s progression to the Round of 16.

NFA vice president Murs Markus yesterday confirmed that they had drawn up contracts with the 23 players which will see the most capped players receiving more than N$500 000 each for their participation at Afcon 2023.

“When we took over from the normalisation committee, there was already a budget in place for the players in terms of qualifying for Afcon. This consisted of N$25 000 for each match where we got a positive result, with a positive result referring to a win or a draw. We had one win and two draws in the qualifying campaign so that amounts to N$75 000 per player,” he said.

After qualifying for Afcon 2023, the NFA and the players negotiated a new agreement and drew up a binding contract in Ghana where they held a training camp in preparation for Afcon.

They agreed on an Afcon participation fee of N$100 000 per player, as well as an appearance fee of N$40 000 per match. Besides the appearance fee, there was also an incentive fee for a win or a draw of N$40 000 per player on the field and N$20 000 for substitutes who remained on the bench.

With Namibia beating Tunisia, drawing against Mali and losing to South Africa, that amounted to an extra N$300 000 for the top players during the group stages.

After drawing against Mali in their final match, Namibia broke new ground as they qualified for the knockout stages of the competition for the first time in history, and new negotiations were entered upon, but this time at the initiative of the NFA, according to Markus.

“In terms of our contract, no provision was made for renegotiation, while it stipulated that the contract fees could not be changed. But no provision was made for reaching the second round, and we just felt that the boys deserve better, so we went to the government and discussed the situation and eventually drew up new contracts for reaching the round of 16, after consultation with the players,” Markus said.

According to reports, the players demanded N$250 000 as a qualifying bonus for the second round, but after negotiations, they eventually agreed on N$50 000 per player, as well as an appearance fee of N$80 000 against Angola.

There was also an added incentive of N$80 000 for a win for active players and N$40 000 for bench players, but with Namibia losing the match 3-0, this did not come into play.

Besides this, NFA president Robert Shimooshili and the CEO of PstBet Steve Hamunyela had each earlier also donated N$150 000 to the players, which amounted to a bit more than N$8 500 per player. The top players will, therefore, pocket a bit more than N$513 500 each.

NFA president Shimooshili yesterday denied having said that the NFA will receive US$800 000, but the Confederation of African Football’s communications director Luxolo September, however, confirmed that Namibia will receive US$800 000 for reaching the Round of 16, which amounts to a bit more than N$15 million.

The overall winners will receive US$7 million; the runners-up US$4 million; the losing semi-finalists US$2,5 million; the losing quarter-finalists US$1,3 million; the losing Round of 16 teams US$800 000; the two teams ranked third in their groups that failed to qualify for the Round of 16, US$700 000 each; and the teams that ranked fourth in each of the six groups US$500 000 each.