Football Association of Malawi ( FAM) has announced that this evening, the Scorchers, will be hosted to a sumptuous dinner for being victorious in the COSAFA region after beating Zambia by 2 goals to 1 in the COSAFA Womens finals yesterday.
This victory is a culmination of tremendous work and investment into Womens football by FAM Tsar Walter Nyamilandu and his FAM team. FAM sponsors the national team and has also been the sole sponsor of the Womens national league until this year when they sourced partners in the name of Goshen Trust.
The investment in Womens football by Nyamilandu and his FAM Exco has seen the Scorchers get to the COSAFA finals twice in recent years. It was third time lucky this time around as they went on to lift the trophy.
Malawi also scooped several awards at the tournament including player-of-the-match awards in all their 5 games, player-of-tournament and Golden boot awards.
Further proof of the vast improvement in Womens football is the export of star players to elite leagues in Europe. Temwa Chawinga has already scored 43 goals in China this season. Tabitha Chawinga was the Top goalscorer in Italy top Womens league last year and now she is starring for PSG. We also have Malawian players starring in top teams in Africa.
So this success is not a fluke. It is something that FAM has been working on for years.
The creation of the National Womens Football Association, the recruitment of a Football Manager for the Womens Association at FAM cost and the support given to its president Adella Migogo and her predecessors, coupled with the great working relationship between FAM president and the Womens football president have all been commendable strides towards the current success and should be emulated by the other associations.
Womens football needs to be commended for the rapid and continuous progress. FAM does not own clubs and relies on associations to provide quality players into the national teams.
Our mens Super league needs to study what the women are doing right and borrow a leaf or two.
We have seen our clubs in the Super seriously struggle in international competitions. The standards in the Super League affect the National team as it is the same players that play for the Flames. We have also seen a serious drop in the number of Malawian players playing for clubs outside Malawi. The few that get the chance hardly make it and end up returning home. We can not have a strong national team when the feeder league is weak. Its actually a miracle Malawi is even able to qualify for AFCON finals against such odds.
FAM deserves credit for making sure all aspects of football remain vibrant, with visible and sustainable growth
