Frans Page Ananias (born 1 December 1972) is a Namibian former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He was capped 29 times by the Namibia national team and scored one goal, and played for Namibia at the

1998 African Cup of Nations The 1998 African Cup of Nations in Burkina Faso was the 21st edition of the Africa Cup of Nations (ACN), the national football championship of Africa, administered by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Just like in 1996, the field of ...

. He played club football for African Blizzards, United Africa Tigers, African Stars and Young Ones in Namibia and FC Penzberg in Germany.

Early life

Ananias was educated at Mandume Primary School, Opawa Junior Secondary School, Otjikoto Secondary School and Cosmos High School.

Club career

Ananias started his career at Central First Division club African Blizzards, a feeder club of United Africa Tigers, before transferring to Tigers. He spent most of his career at the club, winning the Namibia FA Cup with the club in 1995 and 1996 and also the Metropolitan Shield in 1996, and he was also Tigers' top scorer in the 1995 season with 27 goals. He later had a three-year spell in German football with FC Penzberg. He later returned to Namibia and signed for African Stars in 1998. He later joined Young Ones, before returning to Tigers where he played until his retirement.

International career

In 1987, Ananias represented a pre-independence Namibia at an under-15 tournament in

Gqeberha Gqeberha (), formerly Port Elizabeth and colloquially often referred to as P.E., is a major seaport and the most populous city in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is the seat of the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality, S ...

. He made his international debut for

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and e ...

in a 3–0 defeat to Guinea in January 1995. He scored his first international goal in April 1995 against

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kal ...

. In January 1998, Ananias was named in Namibia's final 22-man squad for the

1998 Africa Cup of Nations The 1998 African Cup of Nations in Burkina Faso was the 21st edition of the Africa Cup of Nations (ACN), the national football championship of Africa, administered by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). Just like in 1996, the field of s ...

. Ananias made 1 appearance at the tournament. In total, he was capped 29 times by Namibia and scored once.

Coaching career

Ananias worked as an assistant manager to Willem Kapukare at Tigers and, after Kapukare was sacked in February 2009, Ananias served as caretaker manager until

Brian Isaacs Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish and Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. It is possible that the name is derived from an Old Celtic word meani ...

was appointed in August 2009.

After football

Ananias has two children. He now works as a medical courier for PathCare Namibia.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ananias, Frans 1972 births Living people Namibian footballers Association football midfielders United Africa Tigers players African Stars F.C. players Namibia Premier League players Namibia international footballers 1998 African Cup of Nations players Namibian expatriate footballers Namibian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany