By Faith Banda
Nsanje, Mana: Nsanje District Sports Officer, Sheriff Malunga has disclosed that Football Association of Malawi (FAM), with funding from Federation International of Football Association (FIFA) will construct the youth centre in the district.
He made the revelations in an interview with Malawi News Agency (Mana) on Wednesday at the Boma, noting that the construction of the youth centre was affected by Cyclone Idai in 2019.
“The district was heavily affected with Cyclone Idai in 2019 and this year as well and many structures and property were damaged, including Nsanje Youth Centre.
“It is for this reason that the country’s football governing body would like to assist Nsanje District Council with the construction of the youth centre,” Malunga said.
The Officer said it was worrisome that the district has registered slow progress in terms of sporting activity as a result of lack of good sporting infrastructure.
“The FIFA Foundation and FAM promised to construct at least one football ground, so we recommended construction of the youth centre because this is the centre of the sporting activities in the district,” he added.
Malunga said the project would start once FAM has finalized the assessment of the youth centre.
He pointed out that, “The pitch will be improved, the spectators will have places to sit while watching games and it will also accommodate other sporting disciplines like netball, volleyball and athletics since it will also have a running track.”
The Sports Officer said once the project is completed, the council would be able to collect more revenue from gate collections and the teams would be able to get some money at the end of the game.
“Some Super League games will be played at the youth centre which will expose local players to top league teams; hence, promoting their football career,” Malunga said.
A player of Nsanje Medicals FC, Israel Komzani could not hide his excitement, saying there have been attempts by Nsanje District Council to construct the ground since way back but to no avail.
“It has been a demotivating factor for us sports lovers but we express hope that this time it will come to reality. Once completed, it will encourage us to put much effort in sporting activities,” he added.
A good number of football pitches were destroyed by the recent cyclones and storms as some football pitches were used to mount tents for flood survivors in the district leaving sports lovers without any other option.
