Africa-Press – Namibia. African Stars completed another imperious season by winning the Debmarine Namibia Premiership on Sunday.
Their 1-1 draw against Mighty Gunners in Otjiwarongo put them four points clear at the top of the log and although there is still one round of matches remaining, Stars cannot be caught anymore.
It was their third successive victory in the Debmarine Namibia Premiership while they have now also won ‘The Double’ along with the NFA Cup for the past two seasons and chairman Salomo Hei said it was an exceptional achievement.
“It’s a very humbling experience because it’s very difficult to win the league, and to do it three times in a row is an extremely strenuous exercise. We are the only country in the world where we still play double-headers, and it shows the physical extremes our players had to endure. To win it three times over such a difficult schedule tells us what a big achievement it is for African Stars and what a special breed of players we have,” he said.
“It’s really a great success, and we will only understand this achievement better in the fullness of time,” he added.
Hei also congratulated their Lesotho coach Bob Mafoso, who took over the hot seat midway through the season after the departure of Ronnie Kanalelo and an interim tenure by assistant coach Benni Haoseb.
“We really have to give the coach credit and applause. He came here during mid-season from another country to a new league. He had to adapt to Namibian football; he didn’t have any friendly matches and had to start immediately in a difficult league,” he said.
“But he also knew there was no window for failure; he found a team at the top of the log and had to sustain that. But he has done very well and taken African Stars a notch up now,” he added.
Hei said Stars will once again compete in the African Champions League.
“This is our dream – to get to the group stages of the Champions League. We lost out on an away goal last year, and this year we lost out on penalties, so hopefully, it will be third time lucky,” he said.
“We hope we can use our local stadiums soon for matches, especially the rugby stadium. If it could be used for the Cosafa u17 Girls Championship, why can’t we use it for our upcoming African preliminary games?” he asked.
“We don’t get government support, but we are doing this for the whole of Namibia, so I would like to appeal to sponsors to come on board,” he added.
While Stars have now won the league, the bottom three relegated teams have also been determined as Young Brazilians and Blue Boys join Cuca Tops in the drop zone.
With one round of matches to go, Young African have also secured second place, but the battle for the rest is still wide open with five teams separated by four points.
Here are the complete weekend’s results:
Sunday, 1 June:
Blue Boys 2-2 Julinho Athletic, Blue Waters 5-1 Cuca Tops, Tigers 0-2 Unam, KK Palace 1-1 Khomas Nampol, E Chula Chula 2-2 Young Brazilians, Mighty Gunners 1-1 African Stars, Okahandja United 0-2 Young African, FC Ongos 2-0 Bucks Buccaneers.
Saturday, 31 May:
FC Ongos 2-0 Unam, KK Palace 2-2 Young Brazilians, Blue Boys 1-0 Cuca Tops, E Chula Chula 1-1 Khomas Nampol, Mighty Gunners 2-2 Young African, Okahandja United 0-1 African Stars, Blue Waters 1-0 Julinho Athletic, Tigers 2-2 Bucks Buccaneers.
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