•HESRON KAPANGAWINDHOEK – Young Chiefs Football Club (FC) became the third and final team to book a place in the next Namibia Premier League (NPL) season.
The First Division is divided into three streams, being North-East, North-West and Southern, and the winner of each stream is automatically promoted to the NPL.
Rundu Chiefs from the North-East Stream and Flamingoes from the Southern Stream are the other teams who were promoted to the NPL for the 2015/16 campaign.
The Oshakati-based Young Chiefs needed one point to qualify for the NPL when they went into their last game of the 2014/15 North-West First Division season against Outjo-based Golden Bees on Saturday.
The two teams drew 0-0.
Speaking to Nampa on Monday from the Oshana Region, Young Chiefs’ player and public relations officer Nicanor Kapuka said the team is ready to compete in the elite league when the 2015/16 season kicks off in August this year.
“Being promoted to the NPL means a lot to the players and the northern region at large. We made history by becoming the third team from the four northern regions to be promoted to the NPL and we are now looking forward to competing in the top league,” he said.
The other two teams from the North who previously featured in the NPL are Oshakati City and King Kauluma (KK) Palace.
Kapuka said Young Chiefs’ objective in the premier league would be to avoid relegation and show that teams from the north-east are competitive.
“We have a team full of youthful players but we will strengthen the squad ahead of the start of the league. We currently have two players in the squad who already played in the NPL – myself who played for Oshakati City and former Rundu Chiefs player Clemens Hausiku,” Kapuka stated.
Kapuka added that Young Chiefs’ officials will consult with the management of KK Palace and Oshakati City to help them understand where they went wrong and what they did right.
“Usually when teams are promoted to the Premier League, they start buying players from big teams like Black Africa and African Stars to help them in the league due to their experience, but most of these players are considered surplus by those big teams.
And come the start of the NPL season, Young Chiefs will avoid buying such players who will not contribute to the team’s survival, and we can only avoid that by talking to other teams from the northern regions who have already been there and done that,” said Kapuka.
Young Chiefs finished on the top of the log with 41 points, followed by Golden Bees with 40 points. -Nampa
