Warriors to get busy for Cup

THE Brave Warriors will be guaranteed of at least six international encounters against top football playing nations before the start of the African Nations Cup on January 20 in Accra, Ghana.

Namibia is among the 16 African nations to contest for the coveted trophy and it is the second time that they have qualified for the event. Namibia last qualified in 1998 at the tournament held in Burkina Faso.To prepare for next year’s event, the Warriors are set to have a busy schedule.The team will go into camp in early October to prepare for their first international fixture against Tunisia in Tunis, before playing their second in Casablanca, Morocco, a few days after that.The Morocco match has been confirmed and will be played on October 17 in that country, but the match against Tunisia still needs to be confirmed.Warriors coach Ben Bamfuchile yesterday confirmed that the team will have a busy schedule compared to their last-minute preparations for most of their qualifying matches.He said he has submitted a tentative programme to the Namibia Football Association (NFA) on the various training camps and possible opponents for friendly international matches in Africa and Europe ahead of the event.The programme was approved by the NFA executive c committee at the weekend, but the overall plan for the ‘Road to Ghana’ which will also entail the budget for the team’s preparations, is not yet known.Bamfuchile said the Namibian team would be expected to camp at least 10 days in one of the European countries before moving straight into the tournament in Ghana.In their build-up, Namibia will be playing one of their matches in the Middle East, but the country still needs to be confirmed, according to acting NFA Secretary General Barry Rukoro.The chairman of the Namibia Sports Commission (NSC), Stanley Simataa, said they have given the NFA the mandate to present a plan to prepare the team sufficiently for the competition.”We have asked them to give us their plan so that we can avail the finances.We are prepared to help the national team to make the best of that tournament.They also need the support of the corporate world and the nation at large,” he said.It is estimated that the Warriors will need at least N$5 million to be able to carry out their activities effectively ahead of the tournament.Football gets at least N$3,5 million from Government to meet its national obligations.Meanwhile, NFA spokesperson Beau Kauta has announced that the chief executive officer of the association will only be appointed after the Nations Cup next year.He said the reason was that the association was now diverting all its energies to getting the team ready for the competition and that the process of appointing a secretary general would take time.He confirmed that NFA president John Muinjo had received nine applications and that the process of recruiting the right man would only start by next March.At the moment, Rukoro is acting as the SG and he will soon depart for Shanghai, China, with NFA exco member Jacky Gertze to attend a Fifa women’s football symposium.Kauta also announced that replica Warriors jerseys would only be available in November.The association has clinched a deal with Puma to design new jerseys for the national teams and replicas for sale to the public.On the current tainted relationship between the NFA and the Namibia Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) on broadcasting rights, Kauta said there were talks between the parties to find a solution.The talks are currently centred between the NFA, NBC and One Africa Television over who should be the legitimate broadcasters, depending on who can afford it.The NFA claims that they hold the broadcasting rights and earlier stopped the NBC from screening a match between Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo through a court interdict.The problem started when the NBC approached another sponsor, which was in direct conflict with the Namibia Football Consortium (NFC), who are the official sponsors of football.Namibia last qualified in 1998 at the tournament held in Burkina Faso.To prepare for next year’s event, the Warriors are set to have a busy schedule.The team will go into camp in early October to prepare for their first international fixture against Tunisia in Tunis, before playing their second in Casablanca, Morocco, a few days after that.The Morocco match has been confirmed and will be played on October 17 in that country, but the match against Tunisia still needs to be confirmed.Warriors coach Ben Bamfuchile yesterday confirmed that the team will have a busy schedule compared to their last-minute preparations for most of their qualifying matches.He said he has submitted a tentative programme to the Namibia Football Association (NFA) on the various training camps and possible opponents for friendly international matches in Africa and Europe ahead of the event.The programme was approved by the NFA executive c committee at the weekend, but the overall plan for the ‘Road to Ghana’ which will also entail the budget for the team’s preparations, is not yet known.Bamfuchile said the Namibian team would be expected to camp at least 10 days in one of the European countries before moving straight into the tournament in Ghana.In their build-up, Namibia will be playing one of their matches in the Middle East, but the country still needs to be confirmed, according to acting NFA Secretary General Barry Rukoro.The chairman of the Namibia Sports Commission (NSC), Stanley Simataa, said they have given the NFA the mandate to present a plan to prepare the team sufficiently for the competition.”We have asked them to give us their plan so that we can avail the finances.We are prepared to help the national team to make the best of that tournament.They also need the support of the corporate world and the nation at large,” he said.It is estimated that the Warriors will need at least N$5 million to be able to carry out their activities effectively ahead of the tournament.Football gets at least N$3,5 million from Government to meet its national obligations.Meanwhile, NFA spokesperson Beau Kauta has announced that the chief executive officer of the association will only be appointed after the Nations Cup next year.He said the reason was that the association was now diverting all its energies to getting the team ready for the competition and that the process of appointing a secretary general would take time.He confirmed that NFA president John Muinjo had received nine applications and that the process of recruiting the right man would only start by next March.At the moment, Rukoro is acting as the SG and he will soon depart for Shanghai, China, with NFA exco member Jacky Gertze to attend a Fifa women’s football symposium.Kauta also announced that replica Warriors jerseys would only be available in November.The association has clinched a deal with Puma to design new jerseys for the national teams and replicas for sale to the public.On the current tainted relationship between the NFA and the Namibia Broadcasting Corporation (NBC) on broadcasting rights, Kauta said there were talks between the parties to find a solution.The talks are currently centred between the NFA, NBC and One Africa Television over who should be the legitimate broadcasters, depending on who can afford it.The NFA claims that they hold the broadcasting rights and earlier stopped the NBC from screening a match between Namibia and the Democratic Republic of Congo through a court interdict.The problem started when the NBC approached another sponsor, which was in direct conflict with the Namibia Football Consortium (NFC), who are the official sponsors of football.