Council clears FAM on coach
Malawi National Council of Sports says Football Association of Malawi (FAM) is free to choose a recruitment process for the Flames’ coaching job.
Sports Council chief executive officer Henry Kamata in an interview yesterday said they welcome any process which the association deems suitable.

He said: “FAM is free to either head-hunt or advertise the Flames coaching job vacancy. We will support whatever methods they want to use to identify a new coach.”
The development comes after Sports Council earlier indicated that it expects FAM to avoid shortcuts when appointing the new coach.
So far, interim coach Kallisto Pasuwa, who replaced Patrick Mabedi, who was fired in October, has been linked with the job after impressing in the last two 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers in which the Flames drew 0-0 against Burundi away before stunning Burkina Faso 3-0 at home to wrap up the campaign with four points.
However, FAM competitions and communication director Gomezgani Zakazaka in an interview yesterday said the technical subcommittee is expected to meet before the end of the week to discuss the issue.
He said: “It is from this meeting that they will come up with a decision regarding the process.
“After this meeting, the technical subcommittee will present its recommendations at the first quarter ex-co [executive committee] meeting to be held next month.”
There has been an inconsistency on the process of hiring the Flames coach as FAM sometimes advertises while in some cases it does not.
Immediate-past coach Mabedi was employed without advertising for the job or shortlisting candidates.
FAM appointed Mabedi to replace Romanian Mario Marinica after serving as interim coach.
But before Marinica, former coach Meck Mwase underwent the standard recruitment process where over 20 candidates, both locals and expatriates, applied for the job and five were shortlisted for interviews.
Mwase initially took over as Flames interim coach from Belgian coach Ronny Van Geneugden (RVG), whose two-year contract was not extended when it expired in April 2019.
Ironically, RVG was also appointed Flames coach in 2017 without FAM advertising for the job.
Zakazaka said the inconsistency is due to the different circumstances the coaches are hired.
But football analyst Charles Nyirenda said FAM needs to be consistent in the hiring process as this ensures that the association gets the right candidate for the job.
He said: “The question is when they are head-hunting, what criteria do they use to pick the right person for the job? This is not clearly stated.”
The Flames’ next assignment will be gainst Namibia in the 2026 World Cup in March.