One of the finest footballers to emerge from the domestic scene, ‘Senator’ Kennedy Malunga says it pains that 37 years after he was nominated for the prestigious CAF Africa Footballer of the Year Award, no Malawian male player has made the grade.
The former Mighty Mukuru Wanderers and Flames midfield maestro is one of only two Malawian male footballers to have been nominated for the award. The other being the late Clifton Msiya in 1984.
In an interview, the South Africa-based businessperson said the lengthy period signifies how the standards have gone down.
“It’s sad that 37 years down the line, we cannot produce a male footballer good enough to be considered for the award. It points at something being wrong with our football,” he said.
“It’s difficult and practically impossible to be considered for such an award when we struggle to qualify for major tournaments such as Afcon [Africa Cup of Nations]. We also don’t export players to top European leagues.”
The soft-spoken retired footballer, who charmed the fans with his close control, deft touches and cheeky body swerves that made his curly hair swing in all directions like a pop star, said restructuring the game, with particular focus on youth development, would help bring the sport back on track.
The 55-year-old, who was nominated for the award in 1987, added: “In those days, there was good foundation right from primary school where we used to have tournaments at Under-12, Under-15 and Under-19 levels. Our level a kind, this is why we had a lot of great players in our time. of development at that time was one of
“It was very scary when you were selected to the national team because you would meet the best of the best.
“Players could go through stages. Even at club level, we were not rushed, the transition process was smooth.”
Malunga, who became the first Malawian to play for a top European league when he signed for Belgian side Cercle Brugge in 1987, also noted that things have changed over the years and the focus now is to develop players through proper academies.
Reminiscing about his CAF award nomination, Malunga said it was a wonderful feeling.
“The funny thing was that I only learnt about it while in Belgium. A reporter came at our club and asked the manager that he wanted to meet one of the nominees for the award and I was surprised because the FA [Football Association of Malawi] didn’t tell me that I had been invited to France for the awards,” he said.
He attributed his nomination to his performance in the national team, especially in All Africa Games, now Africa Games.
Football analyst Charles Nyirenda said to be nominated for the CAF awards nowadays, a player has to be outstanding amongst African players plying their trade in major European leagues.
He said: “We don’t have a special honour for the Chan [Africa Nations Championship] competition, so the only measurement is that of what a player does elsewhere.
“Not even a sound showing at Afcon can automatically lead to the Africa Footballer of the Year consideration.
“Since we hardly do that well at Afcon or possess players of substance in major European leagues, such an award will remain elusive.
“Over 30 years ago in the days of the Malungas and Clifton Msiya, Africa as a whole didn’t have many players based in Europe and if you look at the list of winners in the era before 1990, most of the winners of the award were based in Africa and primarily within domestic national leagues.
“But when that changed with players from North and West Africa flooding Europe, all that changed. Winners of the accolade have come from European leagues.”
As for female footballers, only the Chawinga sisters Tabitha and Temwa have been nominated for Africa Women’s Footballer of the Year Award with the former being nominated five times while the latter nominated twice.
