By Michael Uugwanga
Austarlian youth football coach, Hatef Beigi is in the country for some few weeks, on a short visit in Windhoek, after touring places like Swakopmund and Etosha national park, before returning back to Australia in the coming days.
The 35-year-old Beigi, who was born in Iran, is a coach at Melbourne Victory Academy, but before joining Melbourne Victory, he was an assistant coach at Tigers FC in the National Premier League (NPL), which is that country’s top tier men league.
Beigi, also previously coached New York City FC U-15s team.
Beigi has spend most of his life in Australia and not in his native country of birth of Iran, a country that was recently at the ongoing 2026 FIFA World Cup that is being co-hosted in USA, Canada and Mexico.
This week, Hatef took time off from his holiday and visited Dolam Football Academy in Katutura, Windhoek, to see the academy’s U-9s and U-11s respectively.
As part of his visit to Dolam Football Academy, Beigi donated various sport equipments to the academy, which includes ten soccer balls, four cones, a whistle, pump and training bibs, while he is also looking at funding the academy in the near future through a foundation.
Dolam Football Academy was established in January this year with the aim of giving a boy and girl child an opportunity to showcase their football talents.
“Before the offer from Melbourne Victory Academy, I did receive some offers from NPL teams but had to turn them down, because of my newly born baby, but chose Melbourne Victory offer because it is in the state in which I live in, so for me is to scout players from other states.
“I was a footballer myself but had to retire due to injury on my ankle after dislocating it. Namibia is a beautiful country. I have visited places like Swakopmund which has German historical buildings and also Etosha National Park. I will be returning back to Australia this coming Saturday. I came here with my wife and child. It has been a good experience for me and my family,” Beigi told Confidente.
Beigi is son to Iranian ambassador to Namibia, Mohammad Bager Beigi.
Bager Beigi also took time from his busy schedule to visit Dolam Football Academy where he met and greet the players and the management of the team Namibia and Iran have a good relation in various areas, such as energy, mining, agriculture and healthcare, while sport could become one area that the two countries could look at in the near future.
Beigi is a highly qualified coach with an Asian Football Association (AFC) A-licence coaching diploma, which is similar to the Confederation of African Football Association (CAF) and that of other federations worldwide.
Ironically, Beigi knows a bit about Namibian football, including Brave Warriors coach Collin Benjamin and also followed African Stars Football Club on their socials.
He made no secret of one day working in Africa, once opportunities arise.
He however raised concern over a low turnout in the Namibia Premiership, after watching some highlights on socials.
Beigi also said that despite a low turnout in Namibia premiership, Namibians are more passionate about their local football than Australians are towards their own league.
“I know Collin Benjamin played for Hamburg in Germany and I have a big respect for him. I see that African Stars have a big fan base on their socials and they play beautiful football, after watching some highlights on their socials, but stadiums are empty here. In Australia we have a top tier league called A-League, which is similar to the Namibia Premier League (NPL), but the one in Australia is private owned. It will be a dream to work (coach) in Africa, even as an assistant head coach for a national team.
“In Canberra we do not have a team in the A-League, but we are busy working on it to have one because the country is so vast. Every state has its own NPL, so we play in a format of a World Cup, with winners going through to the play-offs to play it out for league title at the end of every year,” said Beigi.
