…as minister demands answers and players threaten boycott in Cameroon
Patience Makwele
The Namibia Football Association (NFA) says the N$7.5 million which was released by the government was insufficient to cover its national team expenses, after revealing that it had initially submitted a funding request of N$18 million.
The association said it had already used N$4.3 million of its own funds towards the expenses, leaving an outstanding requirement of approximately N$14 million before the government released the latest allocation.
The disclosure was made by the NFA Secretary General, Mabos Vries during a media briefing on Thursday, where the association also provided an expenditure breakdown showing that it had spent N$7,471,153 of the government grant, leaving N$28 847.
The funding was released on 3 November following the association’s request for assistance with national team expenses.
“We have made a submission for the expenses of the national teams to the tune of 18 million. Now instead of addressing the premises of your request we will never shy away to report on,” he said.
“Now we have received N$7.5 million. Now it looks like our requirement or need was only for the N$7.5 million. The big picture is bigger than the N$7.5 million,” he said.
The disclosure follows questions raised by minister of education, innovation, youth, sport, arts and culture, Sanet Steenkamp, who called on the association to account for the funds released by the government on 3 November 2026.
Steenkamp told a local media outlet that she had asked the ministry’s executive director to obtain answers from the association on how the money was spent.
“I have also noticed that there were various confusing statements made in the media around this matter. What is the real status? It is the NFA that knows that. So I have provided my response to the NFA president,” she said.
The expenditure breakdown covers several national team activities, including travel, accommodation-related logistics, catering, medical supplies, visas, match preparations and administrative costs.
The largest expenditure recorded was N$2.5 million paid to Blue Berry Travel for the Brave Warriors’ flight tickets.
A further N$2,209,596 was paid to FloTravel and Tours for U20, U23 and match officials’ flight tickets, while another N$300 000 was recorded as a part payment for U20 flight tickets.
Other travel-related expenses included N$200 000 for U23 flight tickets paid to FloTravel and Tours, N$86 913 to Satguru Travel and N$45 560 to South African Airways for additional U23 travel arrangements.
The report also records N$400 000 paid to FloTravel and Tours for Brave Warriors flight tickets for the Cameroon matches, alongside N$500,000 allocated towards the Brave Warriors’ Botswana home match expenses.
Additional expenditure included N$196 992.35 for U20 match officials’ and Isaac’s flight tickets through Iconic Travel, N$84 870 for Brave Gladiators catering through TUT Investments, and N$61 610 for the U15 camp catering through Red Pepper Catering.
The association also recorded N$89 355 for Brave Warriors camp catering, N$247 250 for audit fees paid to Saunderson and Co, and N$111 894.48 for players’ and technical team’s visas.
Other expenses included N$203 396 for Brave Warriors medical supplies, N$6 716 for match-day lanyards and several contingency allocations made through credit card payments.
NFA president Robert Shimooshili said the association used much of the money to settle existing debts, including N$5 million owed to a travel agency.
“You can imagine that after we received N$7.5 million, we owed the travel agency N$5 million. You can imagine how much was left from that,” he said.
Shimooshili said the NFA had also been sending national teams to international assignments on credit after its government budget was cut.
“The NFA is sending national teams to assignments, and the bulk of this is being done on credit,” he said.
The association also disclosed that it had approached another football federation within the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for assistance with expenses related to the Cameroon assignment.
According to Vries, the federation agreed to cover the costs on behalf of the NFA under an arrangement that requires the association to reimburse it when financially able to do so.
The arrangement came after the Brave Warriors faced an unpaid N$320 000 hotel bill in Cameroon, while players threatened not to play their Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match over outstanding allowances and bonuses.
The team left Namibia on Sunday and arrived in Cameroon on Tuesday, ahead of their Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match scheduled for Thursday night at 21:00 at Japoma Stadium in Douala.
The players also threatened to boycott the match over N$620 000 in unpaid allowances and bonuses for previous matches against Comoros, the Republic of Congo and Russia.
On player payments, the NFA said it had released money into the individual accounts of players in Cameroon to settle outstanding appearance fees for the Comoros match.
However, winning bonuses for the match against the Republic of Congo and the friendly against Russia remain outstanding, while the two Cameroon matches will add to the association’s payment obligations.
Vries said the executive had resolved to pay the outstanding Comoros appearance fees because that was what the association could afford at the time.
The financial constraints have also affected the association’s development programmes, with the NFA revealing that it had withdrawn its Under-17 team from a COSAFA competition in Mozambique.
The association said participation would have required approximately N$950 000, which it could not afford.
Vries said the NFA had no sponsor specifically for its national teams, despite having sponsorship arrangements supporting other football activities.
He also argued that the lack of suitable stadium infrastructure had restricted the association’s ability to access certain international football funding programmes.
The NFA said government support had declined from N$40 million last year to what it described as virtually zero, apart from the recent N$7.5 million allocation.
The association said it appreciated the government’s support but maintained that national team expenses should be a collective responsibility.
The NFA said it had prepared supporting documents and would submit its full accountability report to the minister’s office on Friday morning.
