• Football

Clubs fire salvos at NFA

• 1 Week Ago 31 July 2025

Some premier league football clubs have dismissed a press release by the Namibia Football Association (NFA), citing “misleading” content about the meeting the parties recently had.

The response by the aggrieved clubs comes in the wake of brewing tension between the association and some of the football clubs.

The NFA issued a statement on Tuesday stating that the meeting went well and a committee was appointed to oversee proceedings of the league, while under the leadership of the association.

The statement was however rebuffed by those clubs that are eager to have the premier league independent.

“Contrary to the NFA’s claims, some NPFL members did not reaffirm any commitment to the current association management model of the NFA.

“Instead, the discussions centred on the full independence of the NPFL as a member of NFA, in line with the newly adopted NFA statutes, which clearly recognise the NPFL as an independent entity entitled to manage its affairs without third party interference, just like all other NFA members,” the statement reads.

The clubs further reveal that there was rejection of several proposals and it was allegedly not such a smooth meeting as suggested in the NFA press release.

The clubs allegedly rejected the NFA rules and regulations which they claim to be outdated.

“The NFA’s reliance on outdated and unconstitutional rules and regulations –adopted before the new NFA statutes – is the root of the current conflict.

“Their rules are outdated – for instance, still referring to 12 clubs in the NPFL, which is completely contrary to the current reality and the supreme NFA statutes.”

The clubs further claim that they deliberated on two possible options to secure full control of the league.

“Immediate steps toward full independence (although timing remains a consideration due to league kick-off urgency).

“Adopting a revised governance structure under the old NPL constitution where the Executive Committee and Board of Governance powers would be fully transferred to member clubs.”

It was also proposed that a management committee chaired by the league director would be formed, with the Board of Governance powers vested in the clubs, acting as a chairman’s forum.

The second option was seen as a temporary measure to avoid delaying the league kick-off, with full independence to be pursued during or after the 2025-2026 season.

“A short-term committee was agreed upon only to assist Franco Cosmos in finalising the new rules and regulations.

“Once completed, the rules will be presented back to the clubs for endorsement before submission to the NFA Executive Council for approval-after which the committee will be dissolved.”



No decision on kick-off date

The clubs stated that no resolution was reached regarding the league start date or preparations, as clubs require confirmation of leagues sponsorship (currently under negotiation with Debmarine Namibian), before committing resources.

“We still want to respect the Debmarine Namibia proposal to the NFA and the subsequent agreement between the NFA and the clubs and still hope and pray that they will come on board and sponsor the league for us to kick off sooner.”



Top 8 Cup

Members also resolved that the envisaged Top 8 Cup by the NFA was not properly notified to the clubs, claiming that the notice was supposed to have been shared with the clubs before the conclusion of 2024-2025 season, or before the second round of the season.

“Members agreed with the NFA that the cup competition won’t be played now, but rather before the 2026/27 season.”



Self-governance

Some of the clubs still demand that the NPFL should not operate under the NFA’s current management model, as it allegedly contradicts the autonomy granted by NFA statutes.

“The clubs remain united in their pursuit of self-governance and will not tolerate misleading narratives from the NFA.

“We urge the NFA to respect the NPFL’s independence as it enshrined in the NFA statutes and refrain from misrepresenting the decisions of member clubs.”

Attempts to get comment from the NFA went unanswered before the newspaper went to print.