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Namibia: U17 League to Start
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The Namibian (Windhoek)
9 April 2008
Posted to the web 9 April 2008
The Khomas Under 17 Football League will kick off this weekend for the second successive season following the launch at the NFA's Soccer House in Katutura yesterday.
Once again a total of 24 teams will participate in Stream A and Stream B, but the defending champions, Civics, will not be in action.
Civics beat the Collin Benjamin Soccer Academy (CBSA) in last season's final to win the inaugural trophy, but their president Helmut Scharnowski told Namibia Sport that he did not have enough players to field a team this year.
Civics' former director of development Mario Carreira joined Orlando Pirates and took most of Civics' U17 players along with him.
"I was in Germany recuperating from my heart condition and when I returned I discovered that Mario Carreira had taken more than 20 of our Under 17 players to join Orlando Pirates," he said.
"It took me two years to develop that team and take them to the top, but now I will have to start from scratch again.
I have only been back for three weeks and could not enter a team this season, but I will build a team again for the future," he said.
Most of the teams in this season's campaign consist of clubs, schools or academies, while a few Premier League teams have also entered teams for the competition.
They include African Stars, Orlando Pirates, Ramblers and SKW, although Tigers, who entered a team last season, have not done so again.
The league will start this weekend with matches starting at 09h00 on Saturday and Sunday at the Sam Nujoma Stadium.
The league will continue on a round robin basis with the top eight teams in each stream progressing to the Cup knockout stages, while the bottom four teams will compete in the Plate knockout competition.
The league is scheduled to run for six months.
On completion, prizes will be awarded to the top four teams as well as several individual prizes such as the Player of the Season, the top goalscorer and the Goalkeeper of the Season.
FIFA-FUNDED PROJECT The acting secretary general of the NFA, Barry Rukoro, said the league would be funded from development funds received from FIFA.
"The funds will come from the NFA, as part of a FIFA-funded programme.
This competition will take 800 kids off the streets and keep them busy with soccer," he said.
Rukoro said they were keen to expand the league to other regions in Namibia as well as starting other age group leagues, but called on the private sector of Namibia to help them achieve this goal.
"At the moment we do not have enough resources but we would like to start programme for other age groups as well.
We are very happy that Street House is helping us develop youth soccer in Namibia and call on other companies to come on board," he said.
The launch was attended by the chief administrator of the Namibia Sport Commission, Rusten Mogane, who congratulated the NFA on the initiative.
"The Under 17 league is one of the most important in a player's development because that is when they normally start learning team tactics.
I want to congratulate the NFA and others involved with this league and we will support you," he said.
Mogane however said that youth soccer had to be developed in collaboration with the Namibia School Sport Union.
"If the NSSU is affiliated to the NSC and if the NSSU is ignored by the NFA we will stop that league," he warned.
Mogane also warned teams that age cheaters would be heavily dealt with.
"We will not allow age cheating.
The NSC already has a few cases on its agenda, dealing with that, he said.
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Namibia Sport
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