FAM launches club licensing for second-tier leagues
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) kick-starts club licensing exercise for second-tier leagues with a day-long workshop at its Mpira Village in Chiwembe Township, Blantyre today.
The association’s club licensing and compliance manager Casper Jangale said in an interview yesterday that today’s workshop will involve Southern Region Premier Division teams.
He said: “Next week, it will be done in Central and Northern regions.
“Having rolled out club licensing in 2015, it’s about time we extended it to the second-tier leagues as we seek to professionalise our game.
“The Super League teams have adapted well to the exercise and now we have to escalate it.”
Jangale said the move will also help teams that earn promotion to the Super League to be aware of what to expect in the top-flight.
He said: “Promoted teams hardly have time to adapt to the system and, as a result, they struggle to implement the requirements. So, the move to introduce the system at regional level is ideal.
“It will also help the lower league teams to embrace professionalism in the way they operate.”
Jangale said at the end of the workshops, they will come up with guidelines suitable for the second-tier league teams.
He said after the Premier Division teams, FAM is also planning to introduce club licensing for women’s regional leagues.
Southern Region Football Association chairperson Raphael Humba said this is what they have been looking forward to.
He said: “Club licensing is the way to go in modern football. We have to move with the times if we are to professionalise our game.
“As second-tier leagues, we feed with Super League with teams and there is a gap when it comes to licensing; hence, the importance of this workshop cannot be overemphasised as it will bridge that gap.”
Humba said the introduction of a C licence as a minimum qualification for a coach from next season, is part of the licensing drive.
