Football

Experienced Brave Warriors’ striker Henrico Botes has extended his stay with his South African Club Platinum Stars for another year.

According to Kickoff.com, Botes inked a new one-year deal with the ABSA Premiership side Platinum Stars following his best ever season for the Rustenburg-based side.

Botes has scored some crucial goals for Stars this season to help them to their best position in recent years as they are currently second on the Premiership log on 45 points, seven behind the leaders Kaizer Chiefs.

Namibian soccer coaches Gerald Guther and Jacqui Shipanga left for Germany over the weekend to attend a three-week International Coaching Course.

According to a press release issued by the German Embassy in Windhoek, the coaching course has been organised by the German Football Association (DFB), and will take place in Hennef, Germany in April and May 2013.

“Shipanga and Güther were amongst the best performers at a previous course and will now strive to receive the A Certificate for coaching,” the press release stated.

African Stars closed the gap on log leaders Black Africa to only one point after completion of Round 18 over the weekend.

Stars came back from a goal down to beat Tura Magic 4-2 on Friday night to move up to 39 points, while Black Africa were held to a 1-1 draw by Blue Waters in Walvis Bay on Saturday to move up to 40 points.

In Walvis Bay, Black Africa took the lead early in the second half through winger Willy Stephanus, but Admire Dzukamanja equalised with 10m to go when he headed in from a freekick.

The last eight teams in the 2013 Bidvest Namibia Cup will battle for semi-finals spots on 27 April with two matches scheduled for Windhoek and Rundu respectively.

This was revealed on Thursday evening by the Organising Committee of the 2013 Bidvest Namibia Cup and the cup sponsors Bidvest Namibia when the quarterfinal draw was made.

The Rundu Stadium will host African Lions, United Stars, Rundu Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, while the Sam Nujoma Stadium will host Hotspurs, Mighty Gunners, African Stars and Blue Waters.

A delegation from COSAFA headed by Chief Operations Officer Sue Destombes was in Zambia last week on an inspection visit of facilities ahead of the 2013 COSAFA Cup from July 6-21.

The party visited the three venues in Lusaka, Ndola and Kabwe, and but for some minor refurbishments at the latter venue, are wholly satisfied that the preparations are well on track for the regional showpiece.

The delegation arrived in Zambia on Tuesday last week and stayed until Saturday.

The Namibia Football Association (NFA) will have three shortlisted candidates by the end of next week as the search for the coach of the Brave Warriors draws to a close.

According to NFA secretary general Barry Rukoro, the association has received over 200 applications for the position which was vacated by acting coach Bernard Kaanjuka on 25 March after the Warriors lost 1-0 at home against Malawi in the 2014 FIFA world Cup qualifier.

SKW and Ramblers were the big winners of the Retirement Fund Solutions SKW Youth Football Tournament that took place at the SKW fields over the weekend.

SKW and Ramblers each won two of the age group categories, while DTS, Kaizen Football Academy and Swakopmund Football Club each won one trophy.

The event, which has become Namibia’s biggest youth football tournament, took place for the sixth year with Retirement Fund Solutions once again sponsoring the tournament to an amount of N$17 000.

Top Namibian soccer referee Reinhold Shikongo is off to another Confederation of African Football (CAF) competition as he heads to the CAF Under 17 Championships which starts in Morocco on April 13.

The renowned Shikongo just returned from the CAF Under-20 Youth Championships in Algeria, which he describes as a huge personal success.

More than 600 youth football players are expected to participate in the annual Retirement Fund Solutions SKW Youth Tournament which will be held at the SKW fields this weekend.

Retirement Fund Solutions will sponsor the tournament for the sixth year in a row to an amount of N$17 000.

The tournament, which was first hosted in 2007, has grown into the biggest youth tournament in Namibia, and this year's focus will be on perfecting the execution and management of the tournament.

The Southern Stream First Division continues this weekend with some interesting matches taking place that could have an influence on the title race.

Currently the title race is still wide open with three teams locked at the top of the log within a point of each other.

Young Beauties of Keetmanshoop lead the log with 19 points from eight matches, followed by Windhoek United and Blue Boys from Swakopmund who are both on 18 points.