Football Association of Malawi (Fam) is, during its executive committee meeting in Salima on Saturday, expected to fill three vacant positions that arose due to various reasons.
The positions are those of Malawi National Football Team head coach, and Fam technical sub-committee chairperson and vice chairperson.
The Flames are without a coach after the country’s football governing body decided against renewing Mario Marinica’s contract, which expires this month end.
The Romanian has since proceeded on leave as his contract winds up following a disastrous spell which worsened with his team’s 6-0 loss to Egypt on aggregate in back-to-back Africa Cup of Nations qualifying matches.
The new coach is expected to hit the ground running as the Flames are expected to take part in the 2023 Cosafa tournament in South Africa from May 27 to June 10.
Malawi are expected to start preparations for the regional showpiece early next and it is likely that Fam will appoint a caretaker coach as efforts to appoint a substantive mentor continue.
The technical sub-committee is also without leadership after Tiya Somba Banda and Suzgo Ngwira lost elections.
Somba Banda failed to retain his seat as Super League of Malawi (Sulom) president after delegates overwhelmingly voted for his challenger Fleetwood Haiya.
Ngwira was booted out of her top post at National Women’s Football Association as affiliates opted for Mighty Mukuru Wanderers Board Member Adelaide Migogo.
Fam General Secretary Alfred Gunda said there is no need for the soccer fraternity to panic as the matter will be put to rest this weekend.
“The Executive Committee meeting that is scheduled for this coming weekend will take the matter up and advise on who leads the Technical Committee as per the statutory provisions on the appointment of committee members,” Gunda said.
Former Fam treasurer and executive member Hubert Mfune said it is not automatic that Haiya and Migogo would replace Somba Banda and Ngwira.
“Initially, the technical head of Fam was picked at random. But in line with Fifa practice, it later changed to be a position given to one of Fam’s two vice presidents. But in recent years, we saw a practice where Sulom’s president was made head of the technical sub-committee. I am not sure whether initial considerations were put away.
“In my opinion, Sulom would perfectly fit in managing competitions than the technical aspects of football. Replacements were needed as early as yesterday because our national team’s performance is at an all-time low. It has not been performing well in recent matches and because of this, we did not renew the coach’s mandate,” Mfune said.
Migogo beat Ngwira 13-5 during an elective general assembly in Salima on Saturday while Haiya rose to the Sulom presidency after amassing 30 votes against Banda’s 18.
Peter Fote is a Sports Journalist with huge experience in radio and Television reporting, production and presentation. He once worked with Malawi Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) and is currently working for Times Media Group.
