Walter Nyamilandu to launch academy

Football Association of Malawi (Fam) President, Walter Nyamilandu, will launch a football academy through his Walter Nyamilandu Foundation.

The foundation’s media liason, Kandani Ngwira, in a statement issued Wednesday, says the academy will be launched on September 14 2019 at Chiwembe Ground in Blantyre.

“The foundation realises the power that the game of football possesses in building strong personalities and characters among the youth; it is against this background that the Walter Nyamilandu Foundation has put football development at grassroots level as a key strategic engagement area in its operations.

“The Walter Nyamilandu Football Academy, which is for under-15, is very unique and will be driven by three pillars, namely Total Football Development through structured coaching and training methods, education centric: The academy students will be enrolled in vocational training sessions to equip them with other life skills, spiritual growth: The academy recognises that football and life are God-given gifts to man-kind to glorify his creation. We want the academy kids to have discipline,” the statement reads.

In an interview, Ngwira said it was wrong linking the academy to the forthcoming Fam presidential elections.

Nyamilandu, who is also Fifa Council Member for Anglo-phone countries, is yet to announce whether he would stand again for another term of office but vice president James Mwenda, Karonga United Chairperson Alufeyo Chipanga Banda and former executive member Moses Mkandawire have thrown their names in the hat.

“This was already in the plans and the president feels this is the right time for it to be operational—whether it is close to elections or not, that is not the objective behind the launch of the academy.

“The academy is being run by Walter Nyamilandu Foundation as part of the president’s objective of giving back to society through charity and empowering the people,” Ngwira said.

The academy will be based at Country Club Limbe. Ngwira reserved his comment when asked as to when the foundation was registered and who are the trustees and management team.

A few months ago, National Youth Football Association Chairperson, Chimango Munthali, launched a similar academy, called Mpira M’mudzi Mwathu, based at Lilongwe Golf Club.

The country has many football academies but they are not fully fledged and are run on part-time basis due to lack of sponsorship.

Surestream Academy was the only and last fully fledged academy football academy in Malawi but closed a few years ago.