Football Association of Malawi (Fam) intends to hire an expatriate coach for the Malawi Women’s National Football Team as the association is not convinced with the credentials of most coaches.
The association held virtual interviews with shortlisted foreign coaches on Monday amid concerns from Scorchers Captain Tabitha Chawinga, who has expressed dismay over delays to start Cosafa Womens Championship preparations.
Fam has kept a tight lid on the identities of the foreign coaches but local coaches who applied for the job were not short-listed.
Sources indicate that former Masters Security and Silver Strikers coach Abasi Makawa and former Scorchers coach Abel Mkandawire applied for the job.
Inside sources confided in us that only foreign coaches were shortlisted for the interviews.
“It is true that the interviews were done online on Monday. But there were no local coaches,” the source said.
Fam General Secretary Alfred Gunda was not available for comment Tuesday.
However, Chairperson of Fam Sub-technical Committee, Tiya Somba-Banda could neither deny nor confirm if the interviews were conducted on Monday.
“At the moment, there is nothing to share with the public,” Somba-Banda said.
Efforts to speak to Mkandawire proved futile but Makawa confirmed that he applied for the job.
“I am interested in the job but I will not be able to say more on the matter,” Makawa said.
Fam indicated early this year that it has plans to recruit a permanent coach for the team after previous coaches were working on part-time basis.
Meanwhile, Fam has proposed that Kazuwa and Andrew Chikhosi be assistant coaches to the incoming coach.
Kazuwa and Chikhosi will likely be in-charge of the team ahead of the 2021 Cosafa Women’s Cup slated for September 15 to 26 in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa, while Fam is finalising the recruitment process.
The Scorchers were drawn in Group A alongside hosts South Africa, Angola and Mozambique.
China-based duo of Tabitha and Temwa Chawinga have been ruled out of the tournament.
Scorchers have never won the Cosafa Cup since its inception but reached the semi-finals twice in 2011 and 2020.
However, they suffered an embarrassing 6-2 defeat to South Africa last year.
