Football Association of Malawi (Fam) has started registering and regulating football academies across the country in a move aimed at bringing sanity into the game.
The exercise comes in the wake of an influx of football academies in the country with some operating without proper guidelines.
It has also been observed that other academies lack proper standards as they do not have the right equipment and facilities.
Fam Technical Director Benjamin Kumwenda said the exercise is aimed at ensuring that all football academies operate within the association’s guidelines and regulations.
’’These guidelines and regulations will be provided and developed within the academy structure and will place the welfare of the player as paramount. We will therefore ensure that all registered academies operate within the Fam regulations,’’ Kumwenda said.
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He said after the registration exercise, all academies that meet the guidelines will be licenced to operate in the country.
“For now we are still in the process of developing guidelines for the academies and everything will be in place,” Kumwenda said.
The move follows a courtesy call that Fam president Fleetwood Haiya paid to Ascent Academy which is the only full-time academy in Malawi.
The association’s website reported that Haiya’s aim was to appreciate efforts the academy is making in developing players.
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’’As a country, we do not have stars in the big leagues of Europe, America and the Middle East. This is due to the unavailability of a systematic plan to export our best talent for development in world’s best leagues.
“One way of realising that is by nurturing and exporting talent via scholarships through academies and high schools. Ascent is doing that and we need to work with them so that we increase the number of players abroad. This is why I am here to appreciate these wonderful efforts,’’ Haiya said.
Ascent Operations Director Thom Mkolongo said a good working relationship between the academy and Fam would greatly help in developing football in the country.
’’We just need to work together and it will be possible to take football to another level,’’ Mkolongo said.
Ascent has boys and girls football teams and has managed to send several players to the United States of America on scholarships.
