Women’s football in Namibia has struggled for many years to gain adequate recognition, Minister of Sport, Youth and National Service, Agnes Tjongarero has said.
The minister made these remarks during the announcement of a three-year title sponsorship of the Namibia Football Association (NFA) Women’s Super League (WSL) by First National Bank of Namibia (FNB) in the capital on Wednesday.
She stated that while the disparity has existed for years, FNB’s commitment, valued at N.dollars 7.5 million, shows a clear silver lining around a dark cloud.
“I have no doubt that this agreement will strengthen the foundation of women’s football, on which the Namibia national football team, fondly known as the Brave Gladiators, must thrive,” she said.
She stated that the sponsorship agreement comes at a time in the economy when funds are becoming increasingly scarce in all sectors.
However, this should not be used as an excuse to further deprive Namibian youth of quality sport training and grassroots development, Tjongarero said.
“This necessitates that the NFA and all other sport federations adopt new ways of thinking outside the box in order to accelerate the potential that young sportmen and women, boys and girls can deliver to economic development,” she added.
FNB’s Executive for Retail Banking, Nangula Kauluma stated that part of their commitment to helping Namibia become more globally competitive is fundamentally rooted in empowering the society and communities in which they operate.
“This is why we as FNB have decided to invest in the Women’s Super League, to ensure that our young girls and women are given an opportunity to excel in the sport which is lovingly referred to as ‘the beautiful game’ and take it further to national and international stages. I humbly submit that excelling in these arenas is a practical demonstration of what it means to be globally competitive,” she said.
The FNB WSL has 14 clubs, and two of them will be automatically relegated at the end of the 2022/2023 Season, leaving only 12 clubs to begin the subsequent season.
The FNB Women Super League begins on Saturday, with most matches scheduled to be played at the NFA Technical Centre.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
