21 vie for U-17, U-20 jobs

Twenty-one coaches have applied for the positions of Under-20 and Under-17 national football team coach which the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture and FAM jointly advertised recently.

Out the 21, eight have applied for the Under-17 coaching role while nine are vying for the post of Under-20 coach.

Four coaches have not indicated which position they are interested in, according to the ministry’s spokesperson Simon Mbvundula.

The vacancies called for applicants with a minimum CAF B licence.

Mbvundula yesterday said although the deadline for the applications, January 31 passed, they are still receiving applications from interested individuals.

“The ministry agreed that it should give one week grace period, considering that some might have applied before the deadline through the post office and the applications are yet to reach us. However, by Friday we will no longer accept any more applications,” he said.

Mbvundula said they plan to have the two successful candidates unveiled by the end of the month.

“We are aware that the two national teams have upcoming tournaments and we would like to speed up the process. We will soon communicate with FAM to do the short-listing before inviting the candidates for interviews,” he said.

 Meanwhile, a couple of foreign coaches have showed interest in coaching the junior national teams, but Football Association of Malawi (FAM) says it is focusing on local coaches only.

Six coaches enquired about the coaching vacancies, including Celestino Prada from Spain, Vitor Valente from Portugal and Roberto Pelliser from Brazil.

But FAM president Walter Nyamilandu yesterday said the association is concentrating on building the capacity of local coaches. “At the moment we are focusing on local coaches. In any case, the salary will not be able to attract an expatriate coach,” he said.