FAM, Council toss ball over expatriate coach

Football Association of Malawi (FAM) and Malawi National Council of Sports (MNCS) are tossing the ball to each other over the next process in the proposal to hire an expatriate coach for the national football team.

Responding to a question on whether they have made any progress on the matter, FAM president Walter Nyamilandu yesterday said: “We notified the authorities [about] the decision of the executive committee to hire a foreign coach for the Flames by February 2017.

“We are, therefore, waiting for feedback and the way forward so that we can make progress on the matter.”

But while acknowledging that FAM made an enquiry on the issue, Sports Council executive secretary George Jana said they are still waiting for a formal approach from FAM.

“An enquiry was made which we sent across to government, but there hasn’t been any feedback [maybe] because there hasn’t been any formal approach in terms of contract duration, expected remuneration, responsibilities and what we would want him to achieve.

“So, probably, now that they have made a decision, they need to put down all that so that government should have an idea of what they [FAM] are expecting and then it can be taken up from there,” said Jana.

But in turn, the FAM president said: “We await a formal feedback to avail any details. A meeting would be ideal to map the way forward.”

FAM resolved at its recent executive committee meeting to hire an expatriate coach following a recommendation by its technical subcommittee..

“The technical subcommittee met on Friday and looked at the long-term and felt it was necessary to engage an expatriate coach if Malawi is to make transformational changes.

“It was agreed that some of the expatriate coaches that have applied are looking for affordable salaries and it was felt that we could not afford to lose such an opportunity of hiring an expatriate and the executive endorsed the proposal,” Nyamilandu said then.

He added: “We feel local coaches have been given a chance and at present, there is no one who is suitable.

“Our plan is that we should have a coach in January [2017] because we are participating in the Chan [Championship of African Nations] Tournament which kicks off in April.”

He also said four or five coaches will be short-listed for interviews. n