A new football tournament has been launched, sponsored by Namdeb, to inspire young people in the Namibian town of Lüderitz.
A new football tournament has been launched, sponsored by Namdeb, to inspire young people in the Namibian town of Lüderitz.
Tim Ekandjo (left) and Namdeb’s Francis Milomo at the launch of the Harders Cup
The company is giving N$100,000 (US$7,400) as a platinum sponsor towards the newly-launched Harders Soccer Cup, named after a species of fish. The other two platinum sponsors are Standard Bank and Tafel Lager.
The tournament was launched on 27 January and will be played on the weekend of 25-26 March at the Lüderitz Soccer Stadium. So far, six teams have signed up to play.
As an incentive, each team will receive a participation fee of N$5,000 (US$373) and the winning team will walk away with a cash prize of N$100,000 (US$7,400), plus a trophy and medals, with the runner-up pocketing N$50,000 (US$3,700).
Francis Milomo, Namdeb’s Internal Communications Manager, said Namdeb was proud to sponsor the soccer cup. The sponsorship, he added, was in line with the company’s corporate social investment strategy of ploughing back into communities affected by its operations.
“Investing towards socio-economic development is the foundation of a strong, empowered and healthy community,” he said. “It is through our belief in the value of sports that, for many years, Namdeb sponsored the popular Elizabeth Bay Cup, which brought many sports teams to Lüderitz from all corners of the //Karas Region to compete against each other in soccer, netball and volleyball.”
Tim Ekandjo, who chairs the Organising Committee, said that the tournament was aimed at igniting belief within the youth of Lüderitz, a harbour town in southern Namibia, and keeping them purposefully engaged, inspired and focused.
He added: “We hope that this tournament will become a feeder platform for locally produced soccer players to national soccer competitions such as the Debmarine Namibia Cup and the Premier League.”