It's Mbidi's fault - Rukoro

Namibia Football Association (NFA) secretary-general Barry Rukoro claims the football body's dismissed president Frans Mbidi is the cause of the national under-23 team's being withdrawn from their 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualification campaign.The u-23s, who spent close to a month in training, were withdrawn from tomorrow's clash against Angola due to the unavailability of funds.Rukoro claimed Mbidi has been misleading Fifa and that the global football body is making decisions based on lies. He further claimed that Mbidi has a done nothing for the association and is also not aware of the trials and tribulations of national teams.“He has not made a single contribution and is not aware of what is happening at the NFA. All he has done is block funds from Fifa,” Rukoro fumed.With regard to the u-23s Rukoro said: “We simply do not have funds to take the team to Angola and it is a very sad situation, as you could see the boys were looking forward to this campaign, but now it's all over for them. “The money we have now has to be used for the Brave Warriors for this weekend's game against Guinea-Bissau, and so the junior teams are feeling the pinch.”Rukoro added the untenable situation at the NFA, which led to the dismissal of Mbidi recently by the executive, will also force the NFA to withdraw the Young Warriors from the upcoming Cosafa u-20 championships in Kitwe, Zambia in December.“It is serious reputational damage for the association as we are known to be ever-present at almost all youth competitions and now this is happening, and we have no choice but to pull the plug. We will still assess the situation with regard to the under-20s,” he added. Those in the know said Rukoro is mandated to co-sign with Mbidi when requesting Fifa funds, and since the global body took the decision not to recognise the SG, they decided not to release any funds for the country's u-23 footballers.The last-minute withdrawal of the squad might also attract a fine from the Confederation of African Football (CAF), which fined Gambia after they withdrew from the competition last month. Gambia was fined US$2 500, about N$35 200.Angola now advance to the second round to face South Africa. The tournament will take place in Egypt, between 8 and 22 November 2019, and will see the top three teams qualifying automatically for the 2020 Olympic Games. The fourth-place finisher will playoff against a team from the Asian Football Confederation. More woesIt has come to light in a letter circulating on social media that the NFA owes Blue Berry Travel a large sum of money.“I hereby commit that the NFA will pay an amount of one million Namibian dollars of the said amount not later than 30 November 2018 and the outstanding (balance) in instalments, as per invoices,” Rukoro said in a letter dated 9 November.LIMBA MUPETAMI

It's Mbidi's fault - Rukoro

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-04

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It's Mbidi's fault - Rukoro

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Namibian Sun 2025-04-04

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