FORMER Civics and Ramblers free-scoring striker Konrad Costa Khaiseb still holds the record of the most goals scored in a season after he netted 30 goals to finish as the top goalscorer in the Namibia Premier League in the 2003 season.
The match-travelled goal poacher, who’s talent also took him to countries like Angola, South Africa and Germany, became one of the most sought-after strikers in the 2000s during a period that saw him playing for three clubs in the different leagues of South Africa.
A product of Paresis Secondary School at Otjiwarongo, Khaiseb started his football journey at Okarundu Primary School because he was too small to feature for the Paresis school team.
Explains Khaiseb: “The football coach of Paresis Secondary School, Herman Katjiuongua, who went on to inspire my soccer career in a very great deal, sent me to train and play for Rogate Primary School because I was too small to play with the bigger boys of Paresis.
“I actually thanked him for that because at least I got a chance to play and, since I was a very late developer, there was less pressure playing with the younger boys at Rogate as opposed to the big-name players of Paresis, some of who were playing in the premier league already.”
Born at Outjo before he moved with his family to St Michael Primary School outside Outjo, where his father worked at the Roman Catholic Missionary, Khaiseb, like his three brothers, was also an excellent sprinter which made him such a good striker later on.
Khaiseb is from a sporting family; his elder brother Fabianus was a member of the Sorento Bucks team that defeated Black Africa 1-0 in the final of the Castle Classic Cup at the old Katutura Stadium.
His second-eldest brother Clemence, also known as Jomo, played for Orlando Pirates and Robber Chanties while he also scored on his debut for the Brave Warriors against Zimbabwe in Harare.
He studied in New Zealand for seven years where he was the leagues top scorer for three to four consecutive seasons before his return to Namibia. Siegfried, who is older than him, played for Life Fighters and Orlando Pirates.
But it was not until he came to Windhoek, where he was studying at the Neudamm Campus of the University of Namibia, that he started to play serious football.
“Coming to Windhoek was really an eye-opener given the fact that I virtually grew up on a farm prior to going to Otjiwarongo where I finished my secondary school career. My father, a staunch Catholic barred me from playing football from Grade 7 to Grade 10.
“I only played for the school’s junior age group teams because I could not even play for Citizens, who were campaigning in the national first division at the time. My father was all about me finishing school first before I could play for any club besides the school teams,” he notes.
Khaiseb got introduced to Ramblers in 2000 by his friend Bruce Ockhuysen and the rest, as they say, is history as he kickstarted his sojourn in the country’s top flight league.
The retired striker, who also played tennis and volleyball at school, was only in his fifth month at Neudamm College, before he was approached by former Civics mentor Helmut Scharnowski, to attend a coaching course in Germany.
He was joined by two other Namibians Bruce Ockhuizen and Bebe Huseb at the Sportschule Hennef in Germany, where they were required to do a three-month German language course first, before they could start their six months B Licence coaching course.
Khaiseb joined German 8th division club PSV Flensburg after completion of his course in 2000 before he was joined by his former Ramblers teammate Dokkies Schmidt at TSV Lindewitt who were campaigning in the German 4th division at the time in 2001.
He joined Civics on his return to Namibia in 2002 before returning back to Ramblers in 2003 in what turned out to be his best campaign in the Namibian Premier League which saw netting a record 30 goals which helped Ramblers finish fourth in the league.
He then returned to Germany where he played for 4th division club Germania Dattenfeld before he joined fellow Namibians Nelson Dicky Akwenye and the late Tugela Tuyeni, before he finally called his overseas journey quits, but not before he first joined TUS Schmidt FC in the German 5th division.
Khaiseb’s football journey also took the much travelled striker to Bush Bucks, in East London, where he was recruited by fellow Namibian Ricardo ‘Bucksy’ Mannetti, who captained the club in 2006. However, he only lasted for six months as he was not cleared by his German club.
He later joined Venda-based Black Leopards where he hooked up with his compatriots goalkeeper Athiel Mbaha and defender Hartman Torombo. However, he left the club because they were practising witchcraft which was against his Catholic doctrine.
He moved on to FC AK in Roodepoort, South Africa, under coach Ali Akhan where he also enjoyed the company of his compatriots goalkeeper Arnold Subeb, midfielders Rudi Louw, Dumisa Jantze and Freedom Purisa.
The Namibian steered FC AK to the championship of Golden League Inland Stream division that year but lost out the chance for promotion to the Premier Soccer League during the play-offs against Maritzburg United.
The prolific striker was prepared for another big challenge and he did not hesitate to accept the chance to play in neighbouring Angola when he signed up with Atlético Sport Aviação, best known as ASA, in Luanda.
Khaiseb, who mentioned Floris ‘Phinda Mzala’ Diergaardt as his best striking partner at Civics, was capped 15 times by his country with a return of five goals, including the match winning strike against Kenya in a world qualifier in Windhoek in 2008.
He also scored for Namibia against Seychelles; a penalty goal against Zimbabwe; another goal in a friendly international against Zimbabwe and one against Botswana.
“I should say that I am not happy with the way in which my international career with the Brave Warriors came to an end. There was an incident with the then coach Tom Saintfiet which resulted in me throwing the coach with the ball in the face.
It seems that all his explanations fell on deaf ears because he was banned from playing for his country ever since.
The retired star is not married yet but he has two sons 17-year old Loginho Gowaseb, who is his first born and Brooklyn Khaiseb who is nine years old and schooling at Otjikondo Village Foundation. Brooklyn is also a keen 100m sprinter and soccer player.
Khaiseb has been working as a transport officer at the Khomas regional office of the ministry of education since 2017.
