Kunene on mission to be great again 

Hosting next year’s Nedbank Namibian Newspaper Cup is part of a long term project to elevate the Kunene region’s football profile.

This is according to the Kunene Football League chairperson Marshall Gomeb.

Kunene held off competition from Kharas and Hardap to secure the hosting rights of Namibia’s premier youth sport tournament at Outjo from 18 to 21 April 2025.

This aligns with Kunene’s revamp and 2019 vision to become a leading sporting destination.

The successful bid marks the second time Kunene will host the tournament, following the 2015 edition, when football was the only sport code on the roster.

“You can see there’s a lot of drastic changes we’ve made to our football in Kunene. I think we are on top of the map.”

Gomeb believes the experience of having successfully hosted the event nine years ago will provide the blueprint to organising a memorable tournament this time around, which now includes a netball section.

“That’s why our preparations have already started to build more facilities for the upcoming 2025 newspaper cup. I got a promise from governor [Marius Sheya], that there are a lot of things that we need to change for the coming year,” Gomeb said of the region’s “big plans” for the tournament.

“That should be something extraordinary. We are starting [this week] with our first meeting to create a team that will work throughout until we host the newspaper cup,” he said.

“From the political side, we have the governor on our side. He’s a man of sport and he loves sport. He also held various sport codes in the previous years through his Governor’s Cup.

“So, I think this will be a very beautiful and attractive newspaper cup.”

Following a unanimous decision to grant the region host status, co-sponsor Nedbank Namibia expressed satisfaction with the bidding process, as well as a keenness to see what the Kunene region will put together.

“We’ve been quite deliberate as the local organising committee in making sure that there are pre-visits taking place, inspection visits to essentially get a sense of what the readiness levels are like,” said Nedbank Namibia’s executive head of marketing and communications Gernot de Klerk.

“As a committee, I think that was a unanimous selection. The quality of what the Kunene region presented to us through their governor was really exceptional,” De Klerk said.

“Their readiness level, their levels of commitment and the basic facilities the town of Outjo offers.

“I’ve driven past and through the town on a couple of occasions, but this was the first time we had a visit earlier this year.

“And they have excellent sporting facilities that are second to none in terms of what we saw.”

The hosting agreement and further details regarding the hosting arrangements for the competition will be signed-off this week.

“We’re excited at the prospect of what the event will bring to the town. The essence of the Nedbank Namibian Newspaper Cup is really one that is centred around young talent, fostering and nurturing young talent,” De Klerk noted.

“We’ve seen that fall into the national teams, both on the netball and on the football side of things. We like the fact that it is about the celebration of young talent, but we also celebrate the fact that it brings us together as Namibians to one venue, one event, and then we can cheer on our regions without fear or favour.”