By Staff Reporter
WINDHOEK, MARCH 10 — The 2023 Bank Windhoek Fistball League will kick off on March 11th, 2023, at the Sport Klub Windhoek (SKW) sportsgrounds in Windhoek. The event will feature matches in the Under 14 and 18 leagues and a tournament for the Under 11. With a modified league and playoff format, the fistball teams are eager to start the new season.
As in the past, the National A and National B Leagues will be played separately from the start. This year, the National A League will feature the current league champions and runners-up, Cohen Fistball Club (CFC) 1 and CFC 2, along with the record champions, SKW 1, and Swakopmund Fistball Club (SFC) 1. The matches will be played best out of seven sets, and winning a game earns a team three points while winning one or more sets earns a bonus point for the losing side.
SKW will also be reinforced by Austrian Bundesliga player Fabian Greifeneder for the next six weeks, focusing on youth development and playing for SKW 1. It remains to be seen how the first team from CFC will fare, as they suffered their last league defeat in the third league round in 2019.
In the National B League, the newly crowned opening cup winner, SFC 2, club colleagues SFC 3, and three teams from SKW and the third reserve of CFC will meet. The league format is carried out by playing the best out of three sets in a round-robin fixture. Here, too, a match victory earns a team three points. Since the defending champion SKW 1 will play in the National A League from this season onwards, the cards will be reshuffled.
The first league round will also feature the announcement of the men’s national team, which will represent Namibia at the World Championships in Mannheim, Germany, from July 22nd to July 29th, 2023. The trio of Michael Baas, Andreas Minz, and Christian Knobloch will have the challenging task of choosing the ten best players from a 16-man squad spread over two continents.
The Bank Windhoek Fistball League promises to be an exciting season, with teams competing fiercely for the coveted championship title. The youth teams from SKW are expected to put up a strong fight, with the newly founded Under 18 league adding to the competition. The event will showcase Namibia’s love for sport and competition, bringing together fans and players from across the country. – Namibia Daily News
