By Michael Uugwanga
Despite last year’s talks that the Namibia Premier Football League (NPFL) would become an independent league starting from the 2026/2027 season, such talks have now cooled down.
For the NPFL is expected to operate under the Namibia Football Association (NFA) once again in the forthcoming soccer season, while at the same time the association is also busy sourcing funds meant for men’s football and that of women’s regional leagues, except for the women’s top-tier league that is sorted for the next two seasons, thanks to the millions pumped in by First National Bank (FNB), who are the sponsors of the Women’s Super League (WSL).
At the back end of the 2024/2025 season, former sponsor Debmarine Namibia made it clear that it could only continue sponsor- ing the NPFL once it became independent.
As a result, it opted not to continue funding the league last season after years as a total sponsor for the top-tier league. Last season, the NPFL was sponsored by both Government, through the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sport and Culture, to a reported amount of N$10 million, while the NFA contributed N$9 million.
NFA’s acting general-secretary, Mabos Vries, has said that there had been no public communication from clubs regarding the top-tier league becoming independent, which will see the league having its own leaders, who will be operating independently without the influence of the association, on condition that the league is in line with the rules and statutes set out by the NFA.
“The Top Tier League has not yet publicly communicated its position regarding its future status following the NFA’s resolution that the league will operate independently from the 2026/27 season. In the meantime, the NFA has approached various corporate sponsors and state entities to secure funding for the Top Tier League, with stakeholder engagements currently underway pending clarity on the league’s status. The league will revert to the NFA once a decision regarding its future structure has been finalised. The NFA can confirm receipt of the N$10 million government allocation towards the Top Tier League and expresses its sincere gratitude to the Government,” said Vries.
As it stands, the NFA will once again be responsible for funding all men’s football activities, despite the financial challenges the NFA continues to experience.
On the other hand, if the NFA fails to source monies for leagues, we could see a delay to the start of the new season that is expected to start next month (September).
“NFA allocated N$6.3 million to the First Division and N$6.16 million to the Regional Second Division. The Third Division is sponsored by Namport, while the Women’s Regional Leagues receive N$1.3 million in funding. Refereeing costs amount to approximately N$6 million. Furthermore, the NFA provides an additional N$9 million towards the Top Tier League. In addition, the NFA invested N$7.5 million in hosting the NFA Cup, which featured 740 clubs and over 21,980 players from various leagues under the NFA’s jurisdiction,” said Vries.
