Fam decides against renewal of Flames kit deal

The Football Association of Malawi (Fam) executive committee meeting held in Mangochi recently resolved not to renew the Flames kit deal with South African manufacturer Apparel Design Institute (Isad).

The three-year deal, which the association signed with Isadi, expired this months and but details have emerged that the kit manufacturer has not fulfilled some of the contractual obligations.

Following failure to fulfil some of the obligations, the committee resolved not to enter into new contract negotiations with Isadi.

Inside sources within the association confided that following the expiry of the deal, it was agreed that the contract will not be renewed.

“It was agreed that the auditors should do a proper reconciliation of the materials they supplied for us to have concrete information. After that, we will have a proper picture on what exactly they owe us because we already paid.

“The committee agreed that it should not bother to enter into another deal with them as they have failed to supply the remaining consignment,” the source said.

But Fam General Secretary Alfred Gunda referred this reporter to the association’s commercial and marketing director Limbani Matola, who was also reluctant to comment on the matter.

According to communication which Times has seen, Isadi had not supplied materials worth approximately K8 million despite getting payment for the deal, which is expiring this month.

In October last year, Fam received another consignment of 2,000 replica kits but the sales were affected due to Covid-19 as fans were not allowed to watch international matches.

As part of the deal, Isad supply kits to both men’s and women’s national teams as well as replica kits to the fans. The association sealed a deal with Isad after it did not renew the contract with United Kingdom (UK) kit manufacturer Umbro.

Previously, the Flames had deals with kit manufactures such as Puma, Adidas and Umbro.

Local football analyst George Kaudza Masina believed the association had done a proper analysis.

“I think the Exco made a decision based on recommendations from the secretariat. On the commercial side, the deal was a flop maybe because of the poor performance of the national teams,” he said.

Isadi is owned by former Bafana Bafana, Fulham and Cardiff City star Kagisho Dikgacoiand Japanese investors.

Football consultant Felix Sapao advised the association to follow the footsteps of Football Association of Zambia (Faz) by establishing its own clothing brand for national football teams.

“The problem in Malawi is that people want quality brands but at a cheap price; so, the best way is to create their own brand. The best is to take the same path with Zambia,” Sapao said.

Faz has its own clothing brand popularly known as Kopa for all the national football teams.