Unam's Clever Boys tread carefully
Unam's Clever Boys tread carefully

Unam's Clever Boys tread carefully

The Unam football club has opted to take a cautionary approach to the NFA's invitation to join their envisioned top-tier league.
Limba Mupetami
Limba Mupetami

WINDHOEK



At a time when various football clubs and supporters have been making their allegiance to the Namibia Football Association (NFA) and its proposed top-tier league clear, the University of Namibia's (Unam) football club has remained on the sidelines, watching the drama unfold.

Unam made it a point to only announce its standing on the final day of confirmation to the league invitation, explaining in a letter that its stance is not a refusal to take up the invitation, but rather a cautionary approach.

This, the club said, is to ensure that it does not act to its own detriment pending the finalisation of the legal dispute between the NFA and the Namibia Premier League (NPL).



Impartial

Unam said the invitation from the NFA is premature at this point in time. “The NPL, to which Unam is still a member, is inter alia contesting its suspension from the NFA and seeks relief declaring the suspension unlawful.

“It is common cause that NFA has since moved to expel the NPL as a member of the NFA at the extraordinary congress of 22 July.”

The football club further said it will only be in a good position to make an informed decision once the dispute between the NFA and the NPL at the Court of Sport Arbitration has been finalised.

Finishing fourth on the log in the 2018/2019 season, Unam said it would, at the conclusion of the legal dispute, “automatically affiliate to the league as directed by the court,” the letter read.



Fifa's stance

Meanwhile, over the weekend, football governing body Fifa, through its chief member associations officer, Veron Mosengo-Omba, announced that it does not recognise the NPL's plans to organise a breakaway league in Namibia.

“We emphasise that the existence of a breakaway league in Namibia is unacceptable, and that all leagues on the territory of the NFA must be subordinated to and recognised by the NFA,” Mosengo-Omba said.



Uefa to lend a hand

Despite the infighting and uncertainty regarding football kicking off any time soon, the Union of European Football Associations (Uefa) has written positively to the ambassador and permanent representative to the United Nations office at Geneva, Penda Naanda, who enquired about a possible Memorandum of Understanding with the NFA. “In response, I'm pleased to inform you that the head of international relations at Uefa, Eva Pasquier, has already been in contact with Haikali regarding how Uefa will be able to build on the assistance we have provided to NFA thus far,” Aleksader Ceferin, the president of Uefa, said. The Namibia Sports Commission will today hold a press conference in Windhoek to update the nation on all pending football matters.

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Namibian Sun 2024-03-29

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Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 233.12/OZ UP +1.93% | Copper US$ 3.99/lb UP +0.12% | Zinc US$ 2 455.50/T UP 0% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 87.65/BBP UP +1.46% | Platinum US$ 908.62/OZ UP +1.53% Sport results: Weather: Katima Mulilo: 19° | 36° Rundu: 19° | 29° Eenhana: 19° | 29° Oshakati: 21° | 30° Ruacana: 20° | 33° Tsumeb: 19° | 29° Otjiwarongo: 16° | 29° Omaruru: 19° | 32° Windhoek: 17° | 29° Gobabis: 17° | 30° Henties Bay: 16° | 20° Wind speed: 22km/h, Wind direction: S, Low tide: 11:22, High tide: 05:24, Low Tide: 23:26, High tide: 17:46 Swakopmund: 16° | 17° Wind speed: 24km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 11:20, High tide: 05:22, Low Tide: 23:24, High tide: 17:44 Walvis Bay: 16° | 22° Wind speed: 27km/h, Wind direction: SW, Low tide: 11:20, High tide: 05:21, Low Tide: 23:24, High tide: 17:43 Rehoboth: 19° | 30° Mariental: 23° | 34° Keetmanshoop: 24° | 35° Aranos: 22° | 33° Lüderitz: 15° | 28° Ariamsvlei: 24° | 35° Oranjemund: 14° | 25° Luanda: 27° | 28° Gaborone: 20° | 32° Lubumbashi: 17° | 26° Mbabane: 16° | 21° Maseru: 11° | 29° Antananarivo: 16° | 27° Lilongwe: 17° | 27° Maputo: 20° | 28° Windhoek: 17° | 29° Cape Town: 17° | 28° Durban: 20° | 24° Johannesburg: 16° | 24° Dar es Salaam: 26° | 32° Lusaka: 20° | 30° Harare: 16° | 29° Economic Indicators: Currency: GBP to NAD 23.79 | EUR to NAD 20.36 | CNY to NAD 2.61 | USD to NAD 18.87 | DZD to NAD 0.14 | AOA to NAD 0.02 | BWP to NAD 1.33 | EGP to NAD 0.39 | KES to NAD 0.14 | NGN to NAD 0.01 | ZMW to NAD 0.74 | ZWL to NAD 0.04 | BRL to NAD 3.77 | RUB to NAD 0.2 | INR to NAD 0.23 | USD to DZD 133.84 | USD to AOA 832.63 | USD to BWP 13.71 | USD to EGP 47.35 | USD to KES 130.98 | USD to NGN 1415.13 | USD to ZAR 18.88 | USD to ZMW 25.01 | USD to ZWL 321 | Stock Exchange: JSE All Share Index 74536 Up +0.85% | Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) Overall Index 1528.69 Up +0.84% | Casablanca Stock Exchange (CSE) MASI 12986.94 Up +0.04% | Egyptian Exchange (EGX) 30 Index 27559.35 Down -2.36% | Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) DCI Same 0 | NSX: MTC 7.75 SAME | Anirep 8.99 SAME | Capricorn Investment group 17.34 SAME | FirstRand Namibia Ltd 49 DOWN 0.50% | Letshego Holdings (Namibia) Ltd 4.1 UP 2.50% | Namibia Asset Management Ltd 0.7 SAME | Namibia Breweries Ltd 31.49 UP 0.03% | Nictus Holdings - Nam 2.22 SAME | Oryx Properties Ltd 12.1 UP 1.70% | Paratus Namibia Holdings 11.99 SAME | SBN Holdings 8.45 SAME | Trustco Group Holdings Ltd 0.48 SAME | B2Gold Corporation 47.34 DOWN 1.50% | Local Index closed 677.62 UP 0.12% | Overall Index closed 1534.6 DOWN 0.05% | Osino Resources Corp 19.47 DOWN 2.41% | Commodities: Gold US$ 2 233.12/OZ UP +1.93% | Copper US$ 3.99/lb UP +0.12% | Zinc US$ 2 455.50/T UP 0% | Brent Crude Oil US$ 87.65/BBP UP +1.46% | Platinum US$ 908.62/OZ UP +1.53%