Domestic football dynamics have evolved in recent years with youthful coaches coming to the fore.
The forthcoming 2025 season will pit the 2010 golden generation against each other.
After being rivals as players, most of the youthful coaches will face their peers in the technical area, rekindling their rivalry.
FCB Nyasa Big Bullets coach Peter Mponda would be the centre of attraction after returning to the People’s Team following his success at Silver Strikers where he led the Central Bankers to their first Super League title after 11 years.
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Mponda will renew his rivalry with Creck Sport Club coach Joseph Kamwendo, who previously played for Mighty Wanderers.
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During that time Mponda was playing at Bullets.
Silver settled for Peter Mgangira who also faced Mponda and Kamwendo during his playing career.
Other former players from this generation who have been entrusted with other technical roles include Fundi Akidu who has been named Ekhaya assistant coach, and Sherry Msuku who is the second assistant coach at Wanderers.
Following the recent developments, Kamwendo pointed out Mponda’s achievement at Silver as the turning point for the administrators to trust the youthful coaches.
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“It is a great honour for all of us who have been entrusted with top jobs in the league this season. As you can see that half of the coaches are a generation that played together over 15 years ago.
“We should all give credit to Peter Mponda for winning the league in his debut season with Silver which has opened doors for many of us. Now administrators believe that youthful coaches can deliver too,” Kamwendo said.
The former Orlando Pirates and TP Mazembe player anticipated a tough season.
“Now every coach will try to prove a point. This is going to be a tough season,” Kamwendo said.
On his part, Mponda said it was encouraging to note that a lot of teams had put their trust in the new generation of coaches.
“At Silver, we demonstrated that youthful coaches, if well supported, can also deliver. I want to encourage all my fellow youthful coaches that doing better in the league is possible,” he said.
Mponda also expects the season to be tough.
Meanwhile, local football analyst Isaac Kamanga said the landscape of domestic football was changing rapidly.
“I would call this as part of the transformation agenda. Most teams have put their faith in the hands of youthful managers and it is up to them to deliver. Otherwise, Football Association of Malawi has done well equipping a lot of former players with the required coaching credentials,” he said.
