Let's salvage the NFA

Please allow me space in your publication to highlight a few issues of concern regarding the recent football political fights. There is an old African adage that says, 'when two elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers most'. Similarly, Namibian football has been suffering from a leadership vacuum for decades. I'm not surprised by the Fifa letter dated 1 November stating that it will consider Frans Mbidi as president of the Namibian Football Association (NFA), while they know very well that Mbidi failed the Fifa election integrity check following his failed bid for a seat at the Fifa Council. This is how powerful organisations like Fifa would like to control you, because in 2019 the Fifa elective congress will take place and powerful people would like to get the Namibian vote in their hands, and Mbidi is a good guy for such a job, as he failed to refuse the same attempts when Morocco wanted to host the World Cup. The NFA fight for leadership is far from over and I blame John Muinjo, Barry Rukoro and Petrus Damaseb for the mess we find ourselves in. They are the people who gave birth to the cartel we find in our football. It all started with Erf 339 which up until today it is not on the NFA's name but on the City of Windhoek's. If you want to have a short life in football just mention that erf, and then you will see how the most powerful will label you. It is a pity that we fail to manage feelings in football. Also, the exco of Namibian football failed to give us a blueprint on how they want to have football transformed. James Pallotta president of Roma football club said: “Italian football is dead and a change is needed and our first challenge is to manage a good business.”I'm also making a similar statement, by saying Namibian football is in the grave and Mbidi and Rukoro are not the answer to resuscitate it, as their egoistical actions are not helping at all. Enough with the carrot-and-stick approach, it can't be business as usual, and the 28 voting members in this great nation must no longer be commoditised with a click, turning them into voting machines to keep the wrong people in power. The only solution for Namibian football is to amend the constitution and have a separation of powers. We must change the voting system and give more powers to regional chairpersons, the Namibian Premier League (NPL), first division streams, women's football, the Namibia Football Players Union (Nafpu) and referees and coaches. We can't be held hostage by the secretariat; these are people working for us. Article 15(e) of Fifa statutes states that “member associations statues must comply with the principles of good governance, and shall in particular contain, as a minimum, provisions relating to all relevant stakeholders and must agree to respect the laws of the game, the principles of loyalty, integrity, sportsmanship and fair play as well as the statutes, regulations and decisions of Fifa and of the respective confederations”.The NFA constitution lacks principles, that is why we have an erratic president leading us. This is pure codswallop to say the least. The secretariat must run football, not hold it hostage as they have been doing for years. As a matter of urgency, I call on prioritisation of the review of the Sports Act, revisiting the recommendations of the national sports conference and a review of the statutes/constitution of all sport codes.Even if it takes us two to five years, we can still play sanctioned league competitions, while we establish a sustainable professional structure and standards of administration. Botswana's case may serve as an example; they took that route and today everyone can see the difference. We can complain, but for the next 10 years, nothing will change if we do not have proposals, solutions and actions plans. It is of no use for all of us to complain, without standing up, united in solidarity to effect the change we all desire. We can't continue being 100 years behind with everything in football. Yes, some will claim to have been in football for more than 20 years. Yes, we know you have been in football for a long time and that is why everything is falling apart, and what you achieved in the past 28 years can be done in three years, so just step aside because football does not belong to you. I would like to appeal to the minister of sport, the Namibia Sports Commission (NSC), the NFA executive committee, regional chairpersons and Nafpu to come together and pave a way forward. We don't need Fifa; we are the co-authors of our own football misfortunes. We need a serious football indaba, which will solve this fracas. *Olsen Kahiriri has a masters in sports management. This opinion piece was edited by Mathew Kamuja Kalimbo, who is a sports consultant.Olsen Kahiriri and Mathew Kamuja Kalimbo

Let's salvage the NFA

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-01

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Let's salvage the NFA

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Namibian Sun 2025-07-01

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