Sundowns to defend Dr Hage Geingob Cup

Mamelodi Sundowns will be back to defend their title when the Dr Hage Geingob Cup takes place for the second successive year at Windhoek’s Independence Stadium on 23 and 25 July.

Sundowns won the inaugural competition last year when they beat African Stars 1-0, and the South African glamour side will be back for this year’s competition, along with Angolan giants Primeiro de Agosto.

African Stars will once again participate as the Namibian league champions, along with a second Namibian team that will be determined via an SMS competition.

Soccer fans can SMS the team of their choice to 5002 at N$2 per SMS until July 13 when the winner will be announced.

The competition will start on Thursday, 23 July when African Stars take on the SMS competition winners at 17h30, to be followed by Sundowns against Primeiro de Agosto at 19h30.

On Saturday, 25 July, the two losing teams will play a curtain raiser at 15h00 while the two winning teams will play in the final at 17h00.

Thursday’s launch was attended by several dignitaries, including the Deputy Minister of Sport, Agnes Tjongarero while representatives of the two African clubs also attended, including Sundowns’ Head of Scouting Trott Moloto.

Several new sponsors have come on board for this year’s competition, with the main sponsors now including MTC, Namibia Breweries, Agribank, Namibia Airports Company, Namibia Wildlife Resorts, Namport, NBC, the Windhoek Country Club and the Namibia Football Association.

There won’t be prize money at stake, but all the teams will receive appearance fees which still have to be determined. According to Amos Shiyuka of the organising committee, the foreign teams will receive more money since they will have more expenses, but the overall budget will amount to about N$7 million.

Tjongarero congratulated the companies which had come on board as sponsors, but called on more Namibian companies to support soccer.

“We have to put our heads together and strategise. After 25 years of independence we cant talk about amateur soccer in Namibia anymore, we have to go beyond that. So let’s come together and get more corporates on board to get professional soccer going in Namibia,” she said.

“Let’s show that Namibia also has a corporate world that can stand behind their team and make them professional so that the players will also have something to give to their families,” she added.

The president of the NFA Frans Mbidi thanked the sponsors for coming on board, saying that their decision to invest had shown that corporate Namibia was ready to play its part in the development of football in Namibia.

He said the competition will give local players an opportunity to test themselves against some of the best teams in the SADC region while the sponsors’ investment would help realize their dream of building a football association of continental repute.

“The future of our game can only get better going forward. Our players will have one more quality match to play in, but what is more is that they will have a few more weeks of training and preparations. That means that they will be fitter than last season. This will benefit our national teams immensely, particularly now that we are in the middle of a serious campaign for qualification to the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations. In addition, the clubs that qualify for the Dr Hage Geingob Cup will have more resources to professionalise their activities and our referees will benefit hugely even in terms of their own development,” he said.

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