Football Association of Malawi (FAM) says it is considering withdrawing from the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualification race after exhausting its funding for the 2023/24 financial year.
However, Malawi National Council of Sports has accused the association of rushing to the media on the matter before exhausting negotiations for extra funding with them.
Sports Council spokesperson Edgar Ntulumbwa in an interview yesterday said they are suprised that FAM was discussing the matter in the media.
He said: “We find it strange that FAM is going to the extent of taking this matter to the media. I don’t remember a time when the Malawi National Football Team failed to participate in a competition due to lack of funds.”
Ntulumbwa said Sports Council will as usual ensure that FAM gets extra funding for the Flames’ assignments.
He said: “When FAM exhausts their funding, they come to us and ask for extra funding. If money is available, we give them the extra funds, if there isn’t, we ask them to wait as we take the matter to relevant authorities.”
FAM president Walter Nyamilandu in an interview yesterday said they submitted a K1.3 billion budget to cater for national teams assignments in this financial year, but Sports Council trimmed the budget to K120 million.
Nyamilandu said they exhausted the K120 million from Sports Council, the FDH Bank plc’s K120 million sponsorship and the K250 million Fifa travel grant towards the Flames’ 2023 Afcon campaign.
He said they had to get a loan for the Flames to fulfil last week’s 2023 Afcon qualifier against Ethiopia in Mozambique.
“We are in the red. We exhausted funds for the Flames from our sponsor FDH Bank plc and Malawi National Council of Sports. We keep knocking on the door of the Ministry of Sports for a bail out, knowing that our budget was drastically reduced from K300 million to K120 million.
“We borrowed money from the bank to fulfil our last Afcon fixture against Ethiopia as a short-term measure to overcoming the financial challenge,” Nyamilandu said.
Nyamilandu said Sports Council funding was enough for only one international match.
He said: “On average, we require K110 million to fulfil an international match. This should give you a better estimate with Cosafa Cup being treated as a one-off event, mindful that there will only be one World Cup fixture this year in November.
“This is besides our requirements for Cosafa Under-20 for boys and girls. It’s a tall order. It’s been complicated by the reduction in funding over the last two years.”
With no assurance from government on the availability of K300 million extra funding for the Cosafa Cup which will be held in Durban, South Africa from July 5 to 16 and the 2023 World Cup qualifiers, he said the association will be compelled to pull out of the competitions.
“With such reduced funding, the most feasible plan would be to withdraw from international competitions,” Nyamilandu said.
“If we didn’t persevere and sacrificed our resources, the Flames would never have qualified to 2022 Cameroon Afcon finals and neither would Beach Soccer have qualified to 2023 Mozambique Afcon Beach Soccer finals.
“Unfortunately, not this time around, because we have exhausted all our funds. If nothing materialises, we will be forced to pull the plug by withdrawing.”
But Ntulumbwa said at the end of the day, Sports Council still settles the Flames bills.
He said: “Even in the case where they claim to have gotten a loan for the national football team to fulfil the assignment against Ethiopia, and this is not the first time, who will pay for their bills? It’s still us.
“So, FAM should not rush to make such announcements to the media. As government, we will alway assure that funding is available for the Flames.”
Soccer analyst Charles Nyirenda called for FAM and Sports Council to sort out the Flames funding mess before it is to late.
