The head of the Namibian Football Association (NFA) women’s desk this week admitted that the football body owes outstanding travel and playing allowances to players and staff of the national Under-20 and senior women’s teams for two international encounters played earlier this year.

According to Jacky Gertze, the NFA is yet to settle payment to players and staff of the national u/20 and the senior national team, also known as the Brave Gladiators, for away encounters against Ghana and Tanzania respectively. The players were not paid due to a depleted budget caused by an increase in the number of games on this year’s international footballing calendar.

The NFA does not pay salaries to women footballers or the coaching staff, but rewards players with allowances, which are usually paid out before the teams travel or upon their return.

In February, the u/20 women’s team played Ghana in the African Preliminary for the Women’s World Cup in Accra, where they lost 7-0, while the Gladiators played an away game against Tanzania in the African Woman’s Championships qualifier. Both teams remain unpaid for both encounters, with some players who play for both the junior and senior teams owed double allowances.

The u/20’s, known as the Baby Gladiators, lost 10-0 on aggregate in both encounters with Ghana, while the Brave Gladiators lost 7-2 on aggregate for both their home and away games against Tanzania.

“The NFA is currently struggling with funds for both men and women’s football, simply due to the fact that international games played this year alone are way above the NFA budget. We are however in touch with all the players and staff owed allowances and this will be sorted out once the funds are available,” Gertze promised.

Gertze points out that the u/20 and the senior Gladiators have so far played a combined six international matches this year and the teams’ payments for four of these have already been settled by the NFA, in addition to the game played by the women’s national u/17 side during their first international encounter against South Africa earlier this year.