Malawi National Football Team, the Flames, are expected to regroup from February 28 to March 18 but some analysts have questioned the rationale behind the three-week camp.
The three-week camp was approved during the association’s executive committee meeting held in Mangochi on Saturday.
The Flames are expected to play an international friendly during the Fifa window in March in preparation for the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers.
Malawi will host Sao Tome at Bingu National Stadium before travelling to Equatorial Guinea.
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The matches will be played between June 3 and 11.
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This comes at a time the TNM Super League is expected to kick off on April 6.
However, some quarters are of the view that the three-week camp will affect Super League teams’ preparations ahead of the season.
Silver Strikers Chief Executive Officer Patrick Chimimba said the planned camping is not necessary.
“The planned February camp is totally an inconvenience to clubs, as it will come three weeks after clubs start their pre-season preparations. It is a strange arrangement that will definitely affect clubs’ pre-season preparations,’’ Chimimba, whose side will likely contribute four players, said.
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Midfielder Chimwemwe Idana, defender-cum midfielder Tatenda M’balaka, defenders Nickson Mwase and Macdonald Lameck are some of the players from Silver likely to be part of the Flames camp.
On his part, Bullets Chief Administration Officer Albert Chigoga had a different view.
“I hear the Flames have a friendly somewhere in March, hence the scheduling of team camping,’’ he said.
Bullets contribute more than four players to the Flames squad alongside Mighty Mukuru Wanderers.
Clubs are at liberty not to release players outside the Fifa international window.
According to Fifa rules and regulations, official matches have a release period of four days whereas players participating in an international match on a different continent can be released five days before the match.
For friendly matches, the release period is 48 hours.
Meanwhile, sports analyst Parry Chinyama has said three weeks is too long for a national team preparing for a friendly match.
“If our matches are in June 2024, then we do not need to camp that time. It does not serve any good purpose. It will only make logical sense if we were camping for a match scheduled for a week or two,’’ he said.
The Flames started the World Cup qualifiers with a 1-0 victory over Liberia but lost by a similar margin to Tunisia at home.
Meanwhile, Fam intends to align the domestic football calendar with Caf’s schedule as well as setting up a National Division League.
These are part of the resolutions that were made.
“Review of the local football calendar to align with Caf football calendar [is one of the points raised],” the statement reads.
