NFA Cup set to return
Football
The competition will be expanded to include women's teams for the first time.
The Namibia Football Association (NFA) has announced the return of its countrywide knockout series, the NFA Cup.The competition, which pits clubs from all active lower leagues up to and including the Debmarine Namibia Premier Football League, is expected to be launched in early March.
The association says it will only disclose the identity of the sponsors when the time is right.
The association on Wednesday sent out a communication letter to member association’s chairpersons, informing them about the latest development.
“You will be pleased to know that the famous NFA Cup is back and will feature as part of the 2023/24 football season calendar.
“The executive council, in its good wisdom, secured a sponsor that agreed to join hands with the NFA to return the NFA Cup.
“Due to a jam-packed programme of football this season, our valuable potential sponsor resolved to officially sign the sponsorship agreement of the NFA Cup on Friday 1 March at 10:00 at a venue to be confirmed in Windhoek,” the statement reads.
The association further announced that the general secretariat scrutinised fixtures to find available dates to incorporate the NFA Cup in the football season.
INTRODUCING WOMEN
The tournament will for the first time include women teams.
“For the Nationwide First Division, women’s regional Leagues, and men’s regional second division leagues preliminary rounds are to be played on 9,10, 16 and 17 March,” the NFA said.
The round of 32 is scheduled to be played on 6 and 7 April, while the round of 16 are slated for 20 and 21 April.
The quarterfinals of the competition are planned for the weekend of 4 and 5 May, while the semi-finals are slated for 11 and 12 May.
The winners of the competition will be crowned at the conclusion of the final on 25 May at a venue still to be confirmed.
SUMMARISED HISTORY
The last company to sponsor the NFA Cup was MTC, but the company withdrew after the initial contract came to an end. Bidvest also previously sponsored the cup competition for a number of years.
Since its inception in 1991, African Stars have lifted the NFA Cup most times (five), while Tsumeb club Chief Santos’ golden era yielded four titles (1991 and three consecutively from 1998 to 2000) to make them the second-most successful club in the competition’s history so far.
In the last edition of the NFA Cup in 2021, Civics beat Mighty Gunners 3-2 in the final at Swakopmund. This was Civics’ third triumph to add to earlier successes in 2003 and 2008.
Arch-rivals Black Africa and Orlando Pirates have each been NFA Cup champions three times, while Liverpool (1992), Blue Waters (1994), Ramblers (2005), Eleven Arrows (2011) and Young African (2017) have each had one sweet victory as cup champions in Namibia.