Meet the Tjingaete twins, female footballers
By Staff Reporter
VIPUA and Vijaruka Tjingaete are amongst a rare breed of sportswomen in the country, both excelling in two sports codes, namely football and netball, however the twins have decided to choose football over netball, because of the opportunities offered by the former.
The Tjingaetes are the latest twin footballers to come out of Namibia after other well-known twins in Muna and Tara Katupose who played international football for the Brave Warriors.
Like the Katupose twins, the Tjingaete twins are also part of the women’s U-20 national team and they also play in the Namibia Football Association (NFA) Galz & Goals League for Khomasdal Primary School and they also made their presence felt in the NFA Women’s Super Cup that was held from December last year to March this year against the top women football clubs in the country.
They are part of the Girls Football Academy, the country’s top female football league the NFA Women’s Super League and they both represented the country’s U-20 team at the 2019 Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) Cup and in the Africa Women Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifiers in Botswana last year.
Vipua and Vijaruka were also part of the country’s U-17 and U-21 netball teams in the last few years and the two were set to travel to Uganda before it was called off due to Covid-19.
The twins started playing football and netball for their school teams at the tender age of eight while attending Khomasdal Primary School in the capital.
Vipua is a grade 12 learner doing AS Levels in Maths, English, Biology and Physics at Jahn Mohr Secondary School, while Vijaruka is upgrading her Accounting and Economics with NAMCOL.
A born leader, Vipua is also the team captain of Jahn Mohr Secondary School female team and at the same time she is also the head girl for her school.
“I chose football because it will take me far unlike netball. I play as a right-back or as a centre-back. My favourite football club is Liverpool in England and locally it’s African Stars. Virgil van Dijk of Liverpool is my favourite player and in Namibia it is Ronald Ketjijere (former Brave Warriors captain),” she said.
Vijaruka who is left-footed is a big fan of Argentinean and Barcelona play-maker Lionel Messi.
“In football I have more hope of being scouted because there are lots of advantages in football. African Stars is my favourite club because my cousin Roger Katjiteo used to play there. No doubt Lionel Messi is my favourite,” said Vijaruka.
*Additional information: Michael Uugwanga