Five NPL clubs still owe affiliation fees

Hesron Kapanga



Five Namibia Premier League (NPL) football clubs are still to settle their affiliation fees with the elite league governing body for the 2016/17 NPL season.

The NPL has been inactive since the end of the 2015/16 season which ended in April. The league found itself without a sponsor following the withdrawal of MTC in August 2016 as the football league sponsors.

League administrator Tovey Hoebeb told Nampa the NPL held its annual general meeting (AGM) at the end of last year, where eleven NPL teams made their payments.

Affiliation fees for the upcoming 2016/17 NPL season are however still outstanding from Tura Magic, Citizens, Young Chiefs and two newcomers – Life Fighters and Young Africa.

“We will discuss the way forward for the league during our AGM. We will also deliberate on the way forward for the teams that have not yet settled their affiliation fees,” he said.

The NPL consists of 16 football teams and each pays N$15 000 per season for affiliation. Hoebeb said teams that do not pay their fees might run the risk of being expelled when the league kicks off.

“It is stated in the rule book that if a team misses three consecutive games they can be expelled from the league. But hopefully that will not happen. We are hosting our AGM on Friday (today) or Saturday to discuss the way forward,” he said.

Citizens Football Club chairperson, David Goagoseb, said his club plans to settle their outstanding fees this week.

“The league was supposed to start in July. We had the money to pay the affiliation fees, but we helped team members who had family issues that we deemed that to be important at the time … We will settle that amount, probably by the end of this week,” he said.

Tura Magic chairperson Peter Nakurua told this agency the club is committed to paying the affiliation and all other fees. The team was forced to use the funds it had to pay its players until the end of November.

“The league finished in April due to the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) Cup. Tura Magic continued its contractual obligation towards our players by paying their salaries until November. If the league had started on schedule, the affiliation fee would have been paid, but unfortunately money had to be spent on player wages.

“Notwithstanding, Tura Magic remains committed to the league and will honour the call of the NPL to pay subscription and other fees forthwith,” said Nakurua.

Anton Kake, Life Fighters Football Club chairperson, told this agency that his team will have a meeting this coming weekend to discuss the payments.

Besides the N$15 000 affiliation fee, clubs pay the NPL N$54 500 subscription per season, which includes N$500 per player for the 30 players each club has to register and N$22 500 in home matches levies.

All 16 NPL clubs also received letters on 18 July 2016, requesting that they pay their subscription fees by 7 August 2016. So far, only the University of Namibia (UNAM) Football Club, Blue Waters, African Stars and Rundu Chiefs have paid their fees in full.

Meanwhile, Eleven Arrows has made a payment of N$47 000 and Mighty Gunners paid N$40 000.

It is not yet clear when the 2016/17 NPL season will start, as a sponsor is still to be secured for the league. - Nampa