African Stars crowned champions of PstBet NFA Cup

WINDHOEK: Debmarine Namibia Premiership champions African Stars were crowned champions of the 2024 PstBet Namibia Football Association (NFA) Cup after their 2-1 victory over Young Brazilians at the Independence Stadium on Saturday. The 2023/24 Debmarine Namibia Premiership champions added another trophy to their cabinet this season by securing the Football Association Cup and marking their sixth win of the NFA Cup. This achievement places them as the all-time winners, with two more trophies than Chief Santos, who has lifted the trophy four times. To be crowned champions, the Katutura-based team took control of the match as early as 25 minutes with a penalty by Willy Stephanus who opened the scoring against a resilient Karasburg-based Young Brazilians. The first half which produced exciting football on both halves of the field ended 1-0 in African Stars' favour. The second half saw Young Brazilians continuing where they ended off in the first half applying pressure on African Stars who later cracked as th eir defender Charles Hambira and goalkeeper Kamaijanda Ndisiro were caught off guard when Quinton van Staden netted in Young Brazilian's equaliser. With the match level at one all after 90 minutes of football, the game was forced into extra time. Extra-time still saw Young Brazilians forcing for a win but as they continued to play their attacking football they were then exposed at the back which is when African Stars countered them. Stars won a free-kick just metres outside the 25-metre box and once more their reliable free-kick taker Stephanus stepped up and made it count as they once more took the lead of the game. After 120 minutes of football, African Stars were crowned champions while Young Brazilians finished as runner-ups. In the third-place play-off, Khomas NamPol walked away with a bronze medal after overcoming Eeshoke Chula Chula in one of the most exciting matches on the day. Khomas NamPol won the match 3-2. The men's winning team of the tournament African Stars walked away with N.dollars 500, 000 while the runner-ups Young Brazilians received N.dollars 250 000 and the third and fourth-placed teams Khomas NamPol and Chula Chula received N.dollars 100,000 and N.dollars 50,000 respectively Source: The Namibia News Agency