Football Association of Malawi (Fam) has said it will act over Malawi National Football Team’s consecutive losses in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
The Flames are sailing in troubled waters after conceding six goals in a 3-2 defeat to Burundi and a 3-1 hammering at the hands of Burkina Faso, putting their qualification chances into disarray.
Fam First Vice President and Technical Sub-committee Chairperson Madalitso Kuyera described the results as a disgrace to the nation.
Kuyera said the team’s performance in the two matches left a lot to be desired and action has to be taken.
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He said it was pathetic that the team failed to collect a single point from a possible six.
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“From the time we took over at Fam in December last year, the Flames have won just once out of six matches. So I should start with apologising to all Malawians because of the poor performance of the Flames.
“As a technical committee, we have been monitoring our technical panel and the players. We should accept that the Flames are not doing well and it is our responsibility to find out the reasons. We will engage coach Patrick Mabedi and map the way forward,” Kuyera said.
He said the committee would evaluate the team’s performance in various competitions under the current technical panel.
“I am sure this meeting will be convened very soon before our next matches in October. It is sad that our team is not performing and nobody is happy with that,” Kuyera said.
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Football pundit Parly Chinyama expressed concern that Fam is taking long to make a decision on the Mabedi-led Flames technical panel.
“It is clear that this technical panel has failed to deliver after being given several chances to do so. Let us just forget about qualifying for the finals in Morocco next year.
The best Fam can do for now is just to start planning for the 2027 qualifiers. If we are maintaining Mabedi as coach, which is very doubtful, we must start preparing now. But to say the fact, the coach has let us down,” Chinyama said.
After the loss to Burkina Faso, Mabedi declared that his team’s chances of qualifying for the finals are over.
The Kaizer Chiefs former captain and interim coach’s lone victory was a 3-1 beating of Sao Tome and Principe in the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers at Bingu National Stadium (BNS) in June.
The result was preceded by a disappointing showing during the Four Nations tournament at BNS.
During the tournament, which took place in March, the Flames lost 4-0 to Kenya before losing 2-1 to Zambia.
Malawi also traveled to Malabo on June 10, when they lost 1-0 to Equatorial Guinea in Fifa World Cup qualifiers.
The Flames are in Group L of the Afcon qualifiers where Burkina Faso lead with four points from two matches.
Senegal have the same number of points but lie second on goal difference while Burundi are third with three points. Malawi anchor the table with no point.
