Chart of the Week

Sport (pronounced “football”) has been made a priority area in the Swapo manifesto implementation plan, with the new government indicating intent to direct spending to the development of essential sports infrastructure. This allocation includes building Confederation of African Football (CAF) Category 2 stadiums in all 14 regions and five CAF Category 3 stadiums. The Namibian national football team has been forced to play a number of their official international home games in South Africa – including World Cup and African Cup of Nations qualifiers – because none of the national stadiums have met the strict CAF regulations. Category 2 and Category 3 regulations define the seating capacity, pitch specifications, changing rooms, and security measures needed to accommodate higher-level international competitions, with Category 3 having stricter requirements compared to Category 2 stadiums. Various countries across the continent have worked to increase capacity and the quality of stadiums, largely driven by desires to host the big international stadiums and on the back of robust local football infrastructure and performance. South Africa, having hosted the 2010 FIFA World Cup has the largest number of Category 2 and 3 stadiums, while Morocco has continued to increase capacity in anticipation of their hosting of the 2025 African Cup of Nations. These are not cheap undertakings, but the expansion of footballing infrastructure in these countries seems to be directed toward achieving some tangible outcome; they need stadiums to host big international tournaments, and there has been continued growth in formal local football. In Namibia, the outcome is less apparent. The Independence Stadium renovation, which will be one of the five Category 3 stadiums in the country, will cost over NAD1.0bn to build, according to the findings of a feasibility study. The implementation plan indicates an intention to spend NAD755.0mn per annum on Category 3 stadiums – each with capacity of 30,000 people. The only problem this solves, really, is bringing home games back home. But this is hardly the problem with football in Namibia. The sport lacks structure, there is a semi-formalized premier division and virtually no youth infrastructure. Without addressing these issues that have riddled the sport – and sports in Namibia overall – this endeavour is merely an expensive bandaid. This highlights a common issue with government spending holistically, whether well-meaning or not. The fiscus is not some infinite pool of funds to rely on for some vague outcome, but rather finite resources that should be used to solve specific problems and achieve specific outcomes.

Chart of the Week

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-03

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Chart of the Week

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-03

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