Sulom uncomfortable with new Caf calendar
Super League of Malawi (Sulom) General Secretary, Williams Banda, has said it will be challenging for them to adopt Confederation of African Football (Caf) new rule that all African leagues should be running from August to May.
“Let me not say much on this issue considering that we are yet to receive that directive officially. But if that rule is anything to go by, then I do not think they considered our situation [in Malawi].
“First of all, they have to understand why some of our leagues run in months different from other countries. The reality is that we are different in terms of weather patterns,” he said.
Banda said Sulom fixed the current April to December league calendar because the country receives rains from November to March, a stretch of time when rains can affect match venues.
He, therefore, argued that adopting the new calendar could result in many games being postponed due to waterlogged pitches.
Caf said the new rule will come into effect from 2019.
Recently, a symposium for Caf held in Morocco agreed to change the calendar because the majority of African domestic leagues run within that period of time.
Caf also announced that the African Cup of Nations finals will move from January and February to June and July from 2019.
Football Association of Malawi (Fam) General Secretary, Alfred Gunda, said the association would consult on Caf’s position on the calendar.
“What Caf is looking for is that national leagues should not clash with continental competitions. So, as Fam, we will sit down and see on how best we can make our calendar based on what the mother soccer body in Africa wants.
“The good thing is that they have given us one transitional season, which makes the whole exercise practical,” Gunda said.
Caf has made changes to the calendar so as to avoid club-versus-country tug-of-war that affects foreign-based footballers.
Caf Media Director, Junior Bunyam, had not responded to The Daily Times’ questionnaire on why the confederation has issued a one-size-fits-all football calendar.
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