Malawi National Football Team will host Burundi in the first match of Group L before travelling to Burkina Faso in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers in September.
This comes after the Confederation of African Football (Caf) released the fixtures for the qualifiers, which will be played from September to November this year.
According to the fixture, the first two matches will be played September from 2 to 10. Thereafter, the Flames will play Senegal back-to-back starting with the away fixture and then at home.
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Match Day Three and Four will be played between October 7 and 15.
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Malawi will travel to Burundi before wrapping up the campaign against Burkina Faso between November 11 and 19.
Flames coach Patrick Mabedi told our sister paper Malawi News that the team needs more than hard work to punch a ticket to the Afcon finals.
“We need to work hard and dig deep so that we can overcome them. It is a tough group, but in football anything can happen. If you compete with the best, you become the best. We cannot run away from them but to face them,” he said.
In other matches, Senegal will kick start their campaign at home against Burkina Faso before travelling to Burundi. Top two teams in the group will advance to the Afcon finals to be staged in Morocco next year.
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The Flames will be hoping to qualify for the Afcon finals after missing the 2023 edition, which saw hosts Ivory Coast win the title on home soil.
Malawi last qualified for the finals in 2021 in Cameroon and went on to reach the round of 16 for the first time but lost 2-1 to Morocco. Then, the Flames lost 1-0 in the opening group stage match but a 2-1 win over Zimbabwe and a goal-less stalemate against Senegal ensured the Flames passage to the round of 16.
Football Association of Malawi (Fam) Competitions and Communications Director Gomezgani Zakazaka described the draw as tough. “We need to prepare well for us to come out victorious in the group. But it will be an exciting journey. We need to beat the best for us to qualify,” Zakazaka said.
