Standard Bank Namibia on Monday cancelled the inaugural season-opening Super Cup indefinitely.
The Cup contest, featuring the Namibia Premier League champions versus the Bidvest Namibia Cup winners, was scheduled for the end of this month.
In a one-sentence e-mail to several NPL clubs, the Namibia Football Association and the bank’s new chief executive Junius Mungunda yesterday wrote “Cancelled until further notice”.
The cancellation of the competition was brought about by the ongoing dispute involving African Stars, the NPL and NFA, who were not able to master a response before going to print on Monday.
Stars are the Bidvest Namibia Cup champions but at this stage appear unlikely to contest the match, owing to the outcome of their appeal against their two-year suspension from all NPL-related activities.
Following the Appeals Committee hearing on Saturday, the NFA is expected to announce whether it will revoke or uphold the suspension on 27 August, just three days before the Super Cup match.
The suspension was arguably always expected to have adverse knock-on consequences, given Stars’ standing as the country’s biggest crowd-pullers, something that greatly influenced Standard Bank’s decision to part with N$3 million over three years for the competition.
The Super Cup sponsors are said to have persistently expressed their frustration regarding the unconfirmed identity of Black Africa’s opponents for the showdown, culminating in the cancellation.
Should the NFA uphold Stars’ suspension, then it is likely that losing finalists Citizens, who recently won promotion to the MTC Namibia Premiership, will take their place, which is a prospect that not many football enthusiasts or the sponsors will greatly appreciate.
