Club vs country feud resurfaces
Confusion will always cause havoc in the country’s football arena unless authorities stop arranging domestic fixtures on designated dates for national team engagements, analysts have said.
In separate interviews, football analysts David Kanyenda and Charles Nyirenda yesterday agreed that it is high time the Super League of Malawi (Sulom) and Football Association of Malawi (FAM) started prioritising national team assignments over domestic matches as per Fifa regulations.
The sentiments come after Sulom last weekend arranged some TNM Super League fixtures as the Flames faced Mozambique’s Mambas in 2023 TotalEnergies African Nations Championship qualifiers first-leg at the Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe.
Mighty Mukuru Wanderers, in a case of club versus country, threatened to boycott their Super League tie against Dedza Dynamos Salima Sugar after contributing at least seven players to the national team. Later, Sulom postponed the match.
This weekend, six TNM Super League matches have been organised although the Flames are set to take on Mozambique in Chan Qualifiers return encounter away this Sunday.
Mafco will host Civil Service United while Dedza and Waka Waka Tigers will be at home against Rumphi United and Ekwendeni, respectively. On Sunday, Kamuzu Barracks will be up against Rumphi, Karonga will take on Moyale Barracks and Red Lions will be up against Ekwendeni.
“I believe there will be no confusion if there are no domestic matches on designated dates for national team matches. This is what happens in all other countries that abide by Fifa calendar,” said Kanyenda.
“Even Fifa regulations recommend that if a national team has a sanctioned match, let’s say this Saturday, then there should be no domestic fixtures between Friday and Sunday. This is what is supposed to happen here.”
He added that Sulom is an affiliate of FAM, a Fifa member association, as such there is need to do all things in harmony.
Kanyenda agreed with Nyirenda that Sulom should also scrap its regulation that gives privilege to only clubs that contribute at least three players to the national team to be exempted from league matches.
Nyirenda said this regulation undermines the fact that some clubs might be denied the privilege after contributing two players yet the absence of those two could lead to defeat in their league match.
“When we come up with rules, they should not be discriminatory. All teams should be treated the same way because some clubs bank on the impact of one or two players to win matches,” he said.
However, Sulom general secretary Williams Banda said the league has not gone astray and that this weekend’s fixtures were arranged at the request of the clubs.
“Most clubs will not have league games due to national team engagements this weekend, but others have requested for their matches should be go on. That is why we have the league fixtures this weekend,” he said.
Banda said they follow a harmonised calendar that puts into perspective all elite matches and the changes of fixtures do have no negative effect because Sulom works accordingly with all stakeholders.
“All these engagements were known before the start of the season and our calendar was aligned accordingly at the beginning of the year,” he said.
“Whenever there are other changes that we can’t control, we make plans to adjust accordingly. As you have seen, we have played a number of matches in midweek just to ensure that our plans are not affected despite some changes or venue hiccups.”
FAM general secretary Alfred Gunda yesterday could not immediately comment on the issues. But Nyasa Big Bullets chief administration officer Albert Chogoga and Karonga United General secretary Ramzy Simwaka yesterday blamed fellow clubs for prompting Sulom to come up with league fixtures of Fifa dates.
