Our stadiums are in a mess: Shimooshili
Football
Namibia was stripped of the rights of hosting the Cosafa under-17 football tournament.
Namibia Football Association (NFA) president Robert Shimooshili has described the situation of not having suitable facilities to host the under-17 Cosafa tournament as a mess, after the country was stripped of the rights to host the tournament. Cosafa (the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations) announced that they have awarded Mozambique the rights to host the next boys U17 tournament coming up during December, after Namibia failed to provide suitable facilities for the tournament to be played at.
This decision was a U-turn from the initial assignment that was given to Namibia earlier. The focus has been shifted towards Mozambique as the host country.
“It is painful that we are unable to host this tournament anymore, because of the lack of facilities.
“I think the answer as to why the bid was taken from us is straight-forward, given that we do not have the facilities.
“I can tell you right now that we are in a mess as a country and something needs to be done,” Shimooshili said.
Namibia has been without a proper FIFA-accredited football stadium for a number of years now, after the world governing football body declared both the Independence Stadium in Olympia and Sam Nujoma Stadium in Katutura as unfit for the hosting of international matches.
It is for this reason that home games of Namibia’s men’s and women’s teams have been scheduled in South Africa, usually Soweto.
The ministry of sport, who owns the Independence Stadium, have repeatedly promised the nation that they will renovate the stadium.
There has been however little effort in terms of making sure that the stadium is brought to a proper standard.
“As an association we wrote to the ministry to enquire about the stadium, but we are still to receive any response.
“We have a small budget and it will not even be enough for us to rehabilitate the stadium on our own.
“FIFA will not give us money until there is a proper plan and that is where we stand as a country,” the NFA president said.
Namibia hosted the Cosafa senior tournament back in 2016, when the facilities were still considered on par.
Namibia also hosted the 2014 African Women’s Cup of Nations and held different international competitions before things went south.