2020 Dr Hage Geingob Cup called off

The seventh edition of the Dr Hage Geingob Cup will this year not be held but organisers have promised to use funds allocated for the competition towards other community initiatives.

The competition that started off with club football teams in 2014 was won by South African Premier Soccer League outfit Mamelodi Sundowns on three occasions, before it graduated to national teams’ football in 2017, where Namibia won it twice, while Zambia won once.

Competition organiser Amos Shiyuka yesterday said due to Covid-19 regulations and restrictions that are in place, it is difficult to host the one-day cup competition.

“Due to Covid-19 and all the other challenges, we are thinking of doing something that will add value to the communities and those who are badly affected by Covid-19, but all this will be done in the name of the Dr Hage Geingob Cup,” he said.

Shiyuka added that instead of hosting football matches where they will not get the real value out of the competition because of too many protocols as well as supporters not being allowed in the stadium, they opted on assisting those in need of help.

“I don’t think that NFA (Namibia Football Association) has all that’s needed do adhere to these requirements by the World Health Organisation and we wouldn’t want to be held responsible for organising a match of that magnitude and then things don’t work out well.

So we have consulted with the sponsors and they have agreed to rather do a social initiative or project that will add value to our communities affected by Covid-19 or other social challenges,” Shiyuka said.

He stated that they are currently finalising the details of what initiatives or projects will be done before announcing it in a week or two’s time. –Nampa