African Motto promoted to NPL

The North West First Division (NWFD) on Sunday resolved to promote Oshakati's African Motto Football Club to the Namibia Premier League (NPL), instead of overall winners Military School Okahandja.Military School won the two-leg promotional playoff 1-0 against African Motto two weeks ago.They were, however, not promoted as this would have meant two Namibian Defence Force (NDF) teams would be playing in the NPL in the upcoming season, with Mighty Gunners already plying their trade in the top flight.According to the Namibia Football Association (NFA) statutes, no natural or legal person, including holding companies and subsidiaries, may exercise control over more than one club or group in the league.NWFD vice-chairperson Lawrence Kandundu confirmed the decision and said they have informed Military School of their fate.“We decided to promote African Motto as the rules are clear,” he said.Kandundu added that all teams in the league have been informed of the NFA directive regarding team ownership. “Club owners should familiarise themselves with the statutes of the football association and should not complain that they were not told, while there are statutes in place that guide all of us,” he said.The letter regarding African Motto's promotion states that another NDF team, Eleven Warriors, will also be relegated to the Otjozondjupa second division, as they cannot compete in the same league as Military School Okahandja.It said Young Chiefs, who were relegated at the end of the NPL season, will be accepted into the NWFD instead.NFA secretary-general Barry Rukoro said earlier the association's executive committee took a decision two years ago with regard to one organisation or person owning two teams in the same competition.“Military School belongs to the NDF and there is no documentation stating otherwise. We cannot have two teams owned by the same organisation competing in the same competition,” he said.Rukoro explained the NFA executive committee decided that any of the NDF teams who win their respective first division or second division streams, where there is already an NDF team playing, will not be promoted to the same league.“We had two defence force teams playing in the NWFD and we informed the league administrators that at the end of the season, one of the teams would have to be relegated to the second division. The league administrators should now be brave enough to take a decision,” he said.Rukoro said in an earlier interview that Military School reaching the playoffs was just part of the league process, which they needed to complete. He said African Motto would have to be promoted to the NPL, even if they fail to win the second leg of their playoff clashes.African Motto will join already promoted Southern Stream First Division winners Young Brazilians from Karasburg and North East First Division winners Julinho Sporting from Rundu in the NPL.NAMPA

African Motto promoted to NPL

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Namibian Sun 2026-02-05

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African Motto promoted to NPL

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Namibian Sun 2026-02-05

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