Pirates miss out on registering players for first division

Infighting at one of Namibia’s oldest football clubs, Orlando Pirates, has led to the team missing out on registering its players for the 2025 Southern Stream First Division (SSFD) season.

Pirates, who were relegated from the country’s elite league last season, missed an opportunity to register their players during the extended registration window, which ran from 14 February to 14 March.

The Katutura-based outfit, restricted from signing players by the International Federation of Association Football (Fifa), breathed a sigh of relief when Fifa lifted its ban on player registration on Tuesday, following a dispute between the club and a former player.

With the ban lifted after the club reached a settlement agreement, they faced another surprise from the Namibia Football Association (NFA), which did not recognise the current Pirates interim members and did not allow them to register players for this season – despite the interim committee settling the fees owed to the player who filed the case against the club with Fifa.

Johannes Ortman, who was selected as interim director of the team last month, says they tried their best to register players, but the football association did not grant them access to e-Connect as none of them has rights to represent the club.

“We are told we must get blessings from the elders, and we brought one of the founding members of this team, but they say Orlando Pirates chairperson Axab Auchamp must give us his blessing.

“This is the same person who relegated the team and caused the Fifa ban from registering players, something we resolved, but he doesn’t want to allow us to register players,” he said.

He said his biggest concern is seeing the club lose its rich history due to infighting.

“Auchamp, apparently the legend of this team, wants to destroy its history. He is not worried that the Pirates name will disappear from the football books if we miss registration, and the young players expected to make a living playing for this team will be denied those opportunities,” he said.

Meanwhile, Pirates interim chairperson Wilfred !Naibab says Auchamp is the only person with access to the club’s NFA e-Connect system, which is used to register players with the NFA, but he has refused to share the access details with the club committee and technical team.

“The Pirates technical team, the founder, and the committee went to Auchamp’s house to obtain the access details, but were unsuccessful. We are now worried about the future of the team, seeing as we did not register,” he says.

With the registration deadline closing on Friday night, Nampa was reliably informed that Orlando Pirates paid registration fees to the NFA to compete in the 2025 SSFD season, but were unable to register its players on the e-Connect system.

This means the team does not have anyone to represent them on the football field.

NFA president Robert Shimooshili, when approached for comment, said: “You must liaise with the Orlando Pirates leadership, as this is their infighting. The NFA must not feature in their dispute.”

The 2025 SSFD season will feature only 10 teams instead of the usual 12, following the suspension of the Namibian Correctional Service (NCS) by the NFA after the club took the association to court, along with Orlando Pirates not registering players before the deadline.

Attempts to get comment from Auchamp were unsuccessful.