Gladiators juggle busy schedule

  • 1 Year Ago 23 August 2023
A busy line-up of competitions awaits the Brave Gladiators of Namibia.

The squad, led by Paulus Shipanga, kicked off training on Monday morning at the Unam Sports Field.

Shipanga said the team will face Gambia on 18 September in the first-leg qualifier match of the Africa Cup of Nations. They will play the second leg on 26 September.

The team will then turn their attention to the Cosafa championship, which will kick off on 30 September – Namibia are set to play an opponent that hasn’t been named yet on 11 October.

Tough competition

Next, they will play African heavyweights and Fifa Women’s World Cup debutants Morocco in the Olympic qualifiers. Morocco reached the last 16 of the Fifa Women’s World Cup, after beating Colombia and knocking out Germany in their first-ever appearance at the tournament.

Namibia will face them in the first leg, which will be staged on 23 October, with the second leg to be played on 31 October.

In July, the Gladiators defeated favourites Equatorial Guinea 2-0 in the first leg of their 2024 Olympic Women’s Qualifier at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Despite playing with an underdog tag, Namibia took home the spoils courtesy of Zenatha Coleman and Ivonne Kooper's goals. In the second leg, they held Equatorial Guinea to a goalless draw. The results saw Namibia win the tie 2-0 on aggregate.