The Football Association of Malawi has challenged Women football coaches to break the jinx and coach in the men’s Elite Super League.
FAM President Walter Nyamilandu made the challenge during the closing ceremony of the CAF D Coaching course at the Mpira Village on Friday afternoon.
The course targeted 16 secondary school Physical Education (PE) teachers, who will be coaching the FIFA/FAM U-15 Seven-a-side Girls Football League teams.
Nyamilandu said women have made a breakthrough in officiation as female referees are taking charge of elite men’s football and said the same should apply to coaching.
“It is my dream to see a woman coaching a Super League team within the next four years and this is the crop to produce one.
“At FAM we believe in Women empowerment, we have done it at administration level, referees and coaching should follow,” he said.
The FIFA Council Member said the course is an indication of how serious the association is taking its Women’s Football Development agenda.
“This is a first ever CAF D coaching course in Malawi and it has targeted Women’s Football coaches. This is a strong signal that ware serious in developing women football in the country.
We want to start from the grassroots by laying a foundation in young girls meaning that by the time we will be calling for U17 and U20 players into the national team, we will have strong players,” he said.
In her remarks, one of the participants Diana Gausi thanked FAM for the course and promised to use the knowledge to help developing the game
“As CAF Licensed coaches we are ready to go out there and deliver. We are very ambitious and we would like to go further in our careers. So we will seek for higher CAF qualifications as we continue developing girls football in the country,” said Gausi.
The participants came from Eight secondary schools that have been selected for the pilot phase of the FIFA/FAM Under 15 girls Seven- A-side League and include ST Kizito, Chichiri, Soche Hill, Lunzu, Stella Maris, Kalibu Academy, Saint Andrews International High School and Trinity secondary school.
FAM donated 12 football, 12 boots, two pairs of goalkeepers gloves and a Set of Uniform to the Eight schools.