Football remains one of Namibia’s most powerful vehicles for youth development, social cohesion, talent identification and community empowerment.

However, the sustainability of football development depends not only on elite competitions but also on the strength of the grassroots structures that feed talent into the football pyramid.

The emergence of third division leagues in various political regions of Namibia presents an exciting opportunity to broaden participation and create a stronger developmental pathway for young footballers.

In my view, the third division football should serve as a grassroots development engine, discovering and nurturing Namibia’s future talent. It should be driven by individuals and businesses but clearly affiliated with the NFA.

Establishing third division leagues should be a voluntary grassroots initiative by passionate stakeholders, not a mandatory NFA mandate. Many enthusiasts have the resources and networks to create sustainable leagues in areas lacking organised football.

These leagues must have transparent affiliation pathways to the NFA and regional structures to ensure legitimacy, accountability, and integration into Namibia’s football pyramid. The NFA must also set clear rules and regulations.

To promote sustainable third division football, the NFA should create a comprehensive regulatory framework for grassroots and third division competitions, covering league registration, club and player registration, disciplinary procedures, refereeing, formats, finances, safeguarding, transfers, and promotion or relegation. Clear regulations would eliminate uncertainty and prevent regional disparities.

The NFA should set the governance blueprint, with regional structures implementing it locally, ensuring uniformity, credibility, and integrity across the football ecosystem.

FIFA and the NFA should fully support third division as grassroots development. The NFA, with FIFA’s broader philosophy, should recognize third division football as a strategic grassroots investment, not just a lower-tier competition. Grassroots football helps develop players’ skills, tactics, discipline, and competitiveness.

Supporting these leagues could include coaching, referee training, equipment, infrastructure, administration, and technical programmes. Investing at the base strengthens the entire pyramid.

To produce more talented footballers, development must start at grassroots, not only in elite academies or national teams.

Introducing structured age-group requirements
One of the most transformative aspects of third division football could be introducing mandatory youth-development quotas for participating teams. 

For example, a third division club could be required to register and regularly field a specified number of Under-17 and Under-20 players in its matches.

These players should not merely appear on the team sheet to satisfy regulations; they should be genuine participants receiving meaningful competitive minutes.

Clear regulations could establish minimum numbers of youth players in every squad and appropriate requirements regarding their participation.

Such a system would ensure that third division football becomes a talent incubator, where young players gain exposure to senior-level intensity while being mentored by experienced footballers.

Building strong regional U/17, U/20 teams
The long-term benefits of such a model could be enormous for regional football. 

If young players are consistently exposed to competitive football through third division leagues, regional selectors would have a much larger and more reliable talent pool from which to select U/17 and U/20 teams.

Instead of assembling regional teams shortly before competitions and discovering that players lack adequate competitive experience, coaches could monitor players throughout an entire league season.

This creates a continuous talent identification and player-development pipeline. Stronger regional U/17 and U/20 teams would, in turn, provide a stronger foundation for national youth teams and eventually the senior national team.

In simple terms, strong grassroots leagues can produce strong regional teams, and strong regional teams can contribute to stronger national football. Is it doable?
The fundamental question is whether this vision is practically achievable. 

Yes, it is doable, but it requires structure, commitment and collective responsibility. The biggest obstacles are likely to include financing, playing facilities, transportation, qualified coaches, administration and consistent governance.

These challenges shouldn’t lead to abandoning the concept. Instead, they should motivate the NFA, associations, authorities, businesses, schools, and communities to form sustainable partnerships.

A phased approach could start with pilot regions before expanding nationwide. The goal isn’t to create another league just to increase competitions but to build a purpose-driven developmental ecosystem with measurable outcomes.

Introducing third-division leagues across Namibia could become a significant milestone in the country’s football-development trajectory if properly structured and managed.

The real value of these leagues should not be measured only by trophies, league tables or match attendance, but by the number of young players developed, coaches trained, referees produced and communities engaged.

Namibia needs a football pyramid with a grassroots foundation strong enough to support the ambitions of regional and national football.

Therefore, third-division football should be a grassroots platform, voluntarily started by communities and private stakeholders, but regulated within the NFA structure.

Properly managed, today’s third division players could become Namibia’s regional or international stars.

*Phillip Wetu Lazarus is a teacher and sports organiser at Oshela at Senior Secondary School in Okongo.