The Malawi National Football Team, the Flames will battle Comoros in the first hurdle of their bid to qualify for this year’s African Nations Championship (Chan) finals.
This is according to a draw for the Chan playoffs conducted at Confederation of African Football (Caf) headquarters in Cairo, Egypt Thursday.
The Flames will start away between February 28 to March 2nd, 2025 before hosting Comoros for the second leg between March 7 and 9 at Bingu National Stadium.
The winner between Malawi and Comoros will face either South Africa or Egypt in the second round. First leg match will be played between May 2nd and 4th whereas the second leg match is scheduled between May 9 and 11.
- Advertisement -
The over winner of the second round matches will advance to the Chan final to be staged in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania in August this year.
- Advertisement -
Malawi are expected to start preparations for play offs under the tutelage of Kalisto Pasuwa next week.
Pasuwa was not readily available for his comment Thursday. But the Zimbabwean who has been in Malawi for six years, said his goal was to create a strong team.
“I have been here for some years, and I know the culture and I know what Malawian players need and that gives me an advantage,” Pasuwa said Tuesday in Blantyre.
Football Association of Malawi (Fam) Competitions and Communications Director Gomezgani Zakazaka said the Flames would regroup next week.
- Advertisement -
“We know the opponents so the preparations will depend on the coach plans,” he said. But some sports analysts have warned Flames to underrate Comoros at their own peril.
Sports analyst George Kaudza-Masina described the draw as fair but at the same time tricky. “Fair in that despite Comoros having shown signs of improvement lately, their success has more to do with contingent of its foreign based players,” he said.
Another sports analyst Kelvin Moyo said the draw favours Malawi but the biggest challenge would be in the second round against either South Africa or Egypt.
“The beauty with Chan is that those countries with a quality league prevail. It will be difficult to beat countries such as South Africa and Egypt as their leagues are very strong,” Moyo said.
In a related development, Gabon will face Gambia in the first round. The overall winner between Gabon and Gambia will meet Algeria in the second round of the play offs.
Two winners from the play offs will be placed in Group C alongside Uganda, Niger and Guinea.
Normally, Chan, which is specifically for local-based players is a 16-team competition. But with three countries Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya hosting this year’s finals, the number of teams rose to 18.
Caf then made a decision to add more teams to make it a 20-team tournament. The continental governing body arranged special playoffs after the seven countries had withdrawn from the initial qualifiers. Malawi has never qualified for the Chan finals.
