• Football

African Stars making Cape Town home

• 4 Hours Ago

African Stars’ team manager Andrew Tjahikika is happy with how the team has settled ahead of their big CAF Champions League preliminary fixture to be played in Cape Town.

The team which traveled to South Africa on Saturday have already had a few training sessions, as well as one friendly match, as they prepare to face Ugandan Premier League side Vipers FC on Friday.

The match is set to kick off at 18:00, as both teams will be aiming to draw first blood in a crucial two-legged match.

Tjahikika revealed that they began their training on Sunday, a day after they arrived in Cape Town.

“I must say that the team has been in great spirits and everyone looks happy and fired up for the big fixture.

“We have already had a couple of training sessions and as we speak there are no injury knocks on any of the players.

“The only player that is missing now is Wendell Rudath, who was unable to join us due to an injury.

“I can confirm that the rest of the team looks good for Friday and we are just looking forward to making it count,” Tjahikika said.

African Stars played a friendly match against Cape Town’s Shosholoza FC and raced to an emphatic 8-0 win on Monday.

The football club has continued to have training sessions after the victory in order to keep the mood and fitness high ahead of the big match.

Tjahikika expressed confidence in the players even if they are playing their home game away in South Africa.



Away match next

The match will be played at the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town, before the second leg moves to Uganda at the St. Mary\'s Stadium-Kitende on 27 September.

The team will be using the Athlone Stadium due to the fact that Namibia does not currently have any stadiums accredited by FIFA and CAF.

“The team has been training at the Vasco da Gama FC, our home for the past few days, but we will now shift to the Athlone Stadium in order to get a feel for the pitch.

“We also understand that our opponents, Vipers FC, were expected to arrive (on Wednesday) in order to continue with their preparations.

“We do understand what we have to do in order to proceed to the next round and eventually qualify for the group stages and that is the aim we have at the moment,” Tjahikika added.



The mission

The Namibian champions are eager to make it out of the preliminary groups for the first time ever since they started playing at the CAF Champions League level.

“Look, we all know what is at stake here and there is no way we can afford any slips-up.

“I believe that all the players in this team are aware of that and do not need any motivation to battle in this competition.

“It is unfortunate that most of our fans will not be able to make it, but we do know that they are with us in spirit.”

African Stars qualified for the CAF Champions League preliminary rounds after winning the Debmarine Namibia Premiership with 58 points.

They first won the league in 1994, and then again in the 2008-09 season, before successfully defending the title in the following campaign.

It took Stars another four years to be crowned champions again in the 2014-15 season.

The Windhoek-based club went on to lift the winners’ trophies in the 2017-18, 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons.