Nico Andima: The marauding striker with an appetite for goals 

Former African Stars and Brave Warriors star Nicodemus Andima was one of those old-fashioned strikers, also referred to as ‘number nines’, who did not waste time with fancy football.

Scoring goals became habit for the Grootfontein-born and raised forward, who was eventually called up to the senior national team.

The former Grootfontein Secondary School pupil is one of a few players who was taken up in the Brave Warriors squad without prior international experience with junior national teams.

“I am a late developer . . .

“My real interest for football started at Grootfontein Secondary School, where we were taken through our paces by one of our knowledgeable teachers, called Eckard, who doubled up as the school’s football team coach. Eckard taught me how to play football,” Andima says.

While at Grootfontein Secondary School, the retired star was spotted and recruited by his childhood team, Dynamos.

“It was a given that I had to play for Dynamos, because it was the team I grew up supporting. I actually love the fact that my namesake, Nicodemus Katoteli, handed me his jersey and told me to go and play.

“I grabbed the opportunity and soon became one of the key players for Dynamos, because I started scoring crucial goals. In fact, I was not one of those fancy players, but I was scoring goals for fun,” he says.

The former Dynamos goal ace remembers an incident during a friendly between Dynamos and Chief Santos at Grootfontein when his powerful shot inflicted severe injury to Santos’ goalie Marcellus ‘The Cat’ Witbeen’s fingers, causing the ex-national team star to be substituted.

Andima says most of their school’s football battles were limited to bouts against formerly white schools like Etosha Secondary School at Tsumeb and Outjo Secondary School.

The football fortunes of the Grootfontein-born star turned for the better when he moved to Windhoek in 1999.

“Coming to the city to look for better job opportunities was truly a blessing for me. I happened to stay with my homeboy Marley Munyoka, who played for African Stars at the time, and he lodged at Patrick Kauta’s house at Katutura,” Andima says.

“It just happened that Marley invited me to Stars training, and automatically I joined the team, but game time was hard to come by. I was finally given a chance by Kauta to play against Oshakati City in the absence of regular coach Rusten ‘Sukhile’ Mogane, and the rest is history.”

Andima finished the match with three goals to his name on his debut.

“It was a wonderful moment in my football career. I was warming the bench for most part of the year, because the coach thought the players he preferred were better than me. It was beautiful to say ‘thank you, Mr Kauta for putting your trust in me’,” he says.

“It was not my only hattrick for Stars. I bagged another against Blue Waters during a league match at the Khomasdal Stadium and it was not against any goalie but against the gifted former national keeper Sparks Gottlieb. Now that was really worth celebrating.”

Andima almost hit another hat-trick against Eleven Arrows on the Sunday after their demolition of Blue Waters, but he had to be content with a brace of goals at the final whistle, a feat that elevated him to the captaincy of one of the country’s most decorated teams.

He has two personal accolades to brag about during his tenure with Samba Boys – the first being player of the season in 2020, and the other being top scorer of the season.

Ironically he was called up by Mogane to lead the line for the Brave Warriors during a four-nations tournament in Gaborone, Botswana.

He also travelled with the national team for their African Cup of Nations qualifier against Benin, while he sat out the return leg in Windhoek.

Andima was also present when Namibia drew with Congo Brazzaville under late coach Lucky ‘Bazooka’ Richter.

WORK, FAMILY

The retired star is married to Signa Andima and has three children.

He has been employed as a taxation officer since 2000.

The Namibian Premier League winner with Stars under coach Bobby Samaria describes himself as a speedy and hard-working goal poacher and he speaks with great admiration of former Chief Santos, Kaizer Chiefs and Brave Warriors star Mohammed ‘Slice’ Ouseb.

“I enjoyed watching Mohammed as I was growing up at Grootfontein. I could not believe that a player could be so good. He had all the attributes of a superstar, and it didn’t come as a surprise when he was signed by a big club in South Africa like Kaizer Chiefs,” Andima says.

His advice for young players is to work hard and be disciplined.

“There is no hard work without discipline. Today’s players are spoiled. They have it very easy, but then they still go and underperform for the teams that carry them like fragile eggs.”

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