Windhoek Welwitschia

The Windhoek Welwitschia association football (soccer) club in the Vedder League was formed on January 6, 2009. The squad is "owned" by the Staatsregeringministrie vir Sport en Atletiese van Transvaal and managed by Bartnel Botha, the current Minister for Sport & Athletics in Transvaal.

The Welwitschias play all their home matches at Khomasdal Stadium.

Their kit colours are shirts featuring the Namibian flag (dark blue, red, green with white trim and a yellow sun) paired with dark blue shorts with green trim. During the first five friendlies prior to the team's inaugural seasons, a temprorary kit was used consisting of brown shirts with white trim and white shorts with brown trim. The current kit was adopted on January 28, 2009.

The club sponser since their first season has been Soundic Radio. The team is often nicknamed The Wels for short and the club's fans are nicknamed Die Biltongboere.

Windhoek played its first match, a 5-3 loss in a friendly at Khomasdal Stadium versus IGFC, on January 10, 2008; Kees Waterreus scored the club's first-ever goal 29 minutes into the first-half.

Prior to joining the Vedder League, the Welwitschias had previously played one season (in February 2008) in the Transvaal Voetbalsvereniging African League, winning the regular season championship before the two domestic leagues folded.

Club Record by Season
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Cup Record by Season
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Career Statistics
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Vedder League - Season 3 Third Division

 * EXPANSION ROSTER (January 12, 2008): Roger Deemer, Cees de Jong, Jan de Langen, Lucas Fik, Marc Hesselink, Henk-Jan Koopman, Geert Nederkoorn, Gerald Noorlander, Chris Roest, Cor Robben, Robert Persijn, Pierre Schulp, Bert Schut, Rick Sier, Rudy van Bronckhorst, Silvio Vanenburg, Kees Waterreus, and Alexander Wiggers
 * ROSTER TRANSACTIONS: Jamie Alcott signed ($95,300) as free agent on January 20, 2009; Silvio Vanenburg and Cor Robben released January 21, 2009; Carlton Drury signed ($600,000) as free agent on January 21, 2009; Dakarai Baako (prospect) signed January 21, 2009; Gil Sá signed ($900,000) as free agent on January 22, 2009; Geert Nederkoorn and Jan de Langen released January 26, 2009

Player merits
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"Zero Heroes"
The following players were signed by the club but never participated in a competitive match.

Press Releases
JANUARY 6, 2009 - Windhoek gets new team in Vedder League

Windhoek Welwitschia Association Football Club is pleased to announce the approval of its expansion team in the Vedder League. Coached by Reginald “Reggie” Rossiter, the Welwitschias are looking forward to making a successful run during their inaugural campaign.

The new club calls Khomasdal Stadium in Windhoek, Namibia its home and is managed by Bartnel Botha, who is also the manager for the Transvaal Springboks who play in the Primera Division of Liga Mundo.

Anticipation amongst local footballing fans, nicknamed the Biltongboere, is building as the new squad will take to the field next Tuesday, January 13 in their first ever match, a friendly hosted by Olympique Clarice.

JANUARY 6, 2009 - Expansion Squads debut Saturday

The Vedder League will get its first look at the two newest members when Windhoek Welwitschia face-off versus expansion brothers IGFC this Saturday in a friendly match hosted at Khomasdal Stadium.

The Welwitschias were originally making their debut in a friendly at Olympique Clarice next week but the opportunity came up to fly IGFC into Windhoek for a pre-season friendly.

“Our club is really pleased with the arrangement of this match-up, as it will give everyone a realistic look at the two brand-new teams as I believe both teams will take the game seriously to start off on a positive note. So it should be a close match and a good display what both sides can do and also where they will need to work on” commented Manager Bartnel Botha whilst on the sidelines of Khomasdal during the squad’s first practice.

“Having been through this same expansion process with another team in another league, I’m really not expecting major strides at this early point. Our plan is to build and play patiently, looking more towards the future instead of short-term gain. We may dip into the transfer market but chances are I’ll work with what we got right now and see who attracts attention, who sticks, and who doesn’t”

Manager Botha also told the press that he expected that a number of league officials may be at the game to look in on the progress of the two squads: “Expansion always brings some apprehension to league officials, as they never know if the league has acquired a healthy addition to the family or a stillborn organization.”

JANUARY 10, 2009 - IGFC 5, Windhoek 3

Windhoek Welwitschias lost this evening 5-3 to fellow expansion club IGFC. The Welwitschias were trailing 2-0 twenty minutes into the match but goals by forward Kees Waterreus and midfielder Marc Hesselink made it a 2-2 draw just before the whistle blew at the end of the first-half.

During the second half, the Welwitschias fell behind again by two goals in the course of nines minute before midfielder Gerald Noorlander put the ball past IGFC keeper Leigh on a breakaway to pull the score back by one. Unfortunately in the dying couple of minutes IGFC scored their fifth goal to seal the final scoreline at 5-3 for the visitors.

After the match, Manager Bartnel Botha said that “...while a win would have been nice, I’ll take solace in that we were able to come back during the first half by being down by two. I like the looks of some of our midfielders but as a team we backed off a lot in our play when we did not have the ball - that will need to change.”

JANUARY 13, 2009 - Windhoek 0, Olympique Clarice 0

Windhoek Welwitschias drew nil-nil at the Stone Bass today in a friendly versus Olympique Clarice.

“I’m quite impressed by the result in light of our previous loss a few days ago. For us to draw against an established club like Olympique Clarice is a great step forward” said a happy Manager Botha in the post-game interview. “We surprisingly dominated in possession (58%), shots on goal (6 to 3) and with our midfield and offensive play – that was probably more surprising than the scoreline result.”

The Welwitschias next friendly is at home versus expansion AFC Scunthorpe this Saturday evening.

JANUARY 17, 2009 - Windhoek 6, AFC Scunthorpe 1

In today’s friendly played at Khomasdal Stadium, Windhoek Welwitschias dominated the field against AFC Scunthorpe for a convincing 6-1 victory. Forward Kees Waterreus scored 4 goals and Gerald Noorlander collected 3 assists.

The match was scoreless for half an hour until AFC Scunthorpe opened the scoring when Harold Dibbler potted the ball past Windhoek keeper H-J Koopman in the penalty area. However the Welwitschias soon took the lead when they scored two quick goals in the next couple of minutes.

The second half started with the scoreline 2-1 for Windhoek but the home team soon ran away with the ball as they put the ball past AFC Scunthorpe keeper Alfie Alcott four times in the course of half an hour.

JANUARY 21, 2009 - Dakarai Baako, resumes his soccer career

Dakarai Baako, the former member of the UCFA Springboks and former paramount chief, was signed to a contact this evening by the expansion Windhoek Welwitschias of the Vedder League.

“My political career obviously affected my playing ability and when I approached the Transvaal Springboks about signing a contract, there really wasn’t a place for me. The manager, Bartnel Botha had a frank discussion with me about my desire to resume my playing career and he suggested that I approach the new Windhoek X11 team. Once the league’s transfer window re-opened, I was offered a try-out for their midfield and subsequently signed.”

“I’m looking forward to putting all the crazy political BS that is Transvaal and my previous personal problems behind me - and just focusing myself on playing some good football in X11.”

JANUARY 24, 2009 - Wels drop rematch against IGFC

Windhoek Welwitschia lost 2-1 in their re-match this evening versus IGFC at The Theartre of Wet Dreams.

The Wels have dropped two games against IGFC, in their previous meeting on the wrong side of a 5-3 loss.

“IGFC is a team we have not been able to crack in the friendlies, it’ll be interesting to see how our meetings are during the regular season when our boys bring their tougher game” commented manager Bartnel Botha to reporters in the dressing room. Forward Pierre Schulp had the lone tally for Windhoek.

Windhoek’s next friendly is at home when the Vedder League champions All Star Bassist F.C make a visit to Khomasdal Stadium.

“We have no illusions how this match will turn out – this game is strictly for our fans. To show them our appreciation of their strong support to help get this club off the ground, we felt that we owed it to them to bring in the very best side.”

Tickets for the All Star Bassist match have already sold out and drawn fans from all over Namibia. The club reports that season tickets are still available but are expected to go fast once the regular season gets under way.

JANUARY 27, 2009 - Windhoek upsets Bassists 3-2

In a friendly hosted yesterday at Khomasdal Stadium, the visiting All Star Bassists FC were expected to make short work out of Windhoek Welwitschia. However the new lads on the block took it to the Vedder League Champions and eked out a 3-2 victory.

Domenica Lee opened the scoring for the Bassists with a long-range powerful shot which sailed past a stunned HJ Koopman at the 21st minute. Undaunted the Wels dug in hard and began to make BB King work as three shots were fired against the visiting goal in a ten minutes span. Pierre Schulp was then able to get the ball past BB King on Windhoek’s fourth try to even the scoreboard at one goal apiece at the 35th minute.

Schulp had two more tries against King and then bagged Windhoek it’s second goal to take the lead six minutes later. Four minutes later, midfielder Jamie Alcott then chipped in a header past BB King to give the home side a 2-goal lead.

Jaco Pastorius then clawed one back for the All Star Bassists just seconds before the half-time whistle to make the score 3-2.

While the Welwitschias dominated with strong ball possession, All Star Bassists showed their true championship form by making the most of their chances as Wels keeper Koopman let in both shots he faced.

Compared to the excitement of the first half, the second half was more subdued.

Disaster struck both teams at the 50th minutes when midfielder misdirected a clearing kick back to HJ Koopman and accidentally put the ball in for an own-goal, evening the score line at 3-3. However another reversal struck, this time for the Bassists, when referee Frank Redkard disallow it due to an apparent foul on the play by the champions. Windhoek would get one more attempt on net twenty minutes later but otherwise the rest of the half was rather dull for the fans to watch.

“This win was pretty sweet; quite a shocker really” commented Manager Botha afterwards, “although I found our goaltending was somewhat abysmal. Our keeper was able to only stop one of three shots, while All Star Bassists’ keeper King played admirable under the pressure and was able to make half his saves.”

“I’ve been happy with our results during the pre-season – although we have had noticeable trouble against the English side IGFC. Not sure why, they seem to have had our number in our two meetings so far.”