FAM sets affiliation requirement for coaches

Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has directed that only National Football Coaches Association (NFCA) paid-up members should coach in the country’s top-flight and lower leagues.

FAM president Fleetwood Haiya  made the directive on Tuesday during the opening of a two-day refresher course for Super League coaches at Mpira Village in Chiwembe Township, Blantyre.

He  said non-members will also be barred from taking part in various courses such as the Confederation of African Football (CAF)-B coaching,  scouting and data analysis.

Currently, the country has 4 000 qualified football coaches, but only 2 800 are NFCA paid-up members.

NFCA general secretary Davie Mpima said  only 10 out of the 36 coaches and assistants in the TNM Super League were paid-up members last season.

But Haiya said that since the NFCA is a FAM affiliate, it has been empowered to bring sanity in the field.

He said the arrangement will help address challenges that coaches face such as clubs not honouring their contractual obligations and being unfairly dismissed.

“NFCA has a vital role to play in football. If we are not careful, we are going to have chaos in the system. Football is a technical game and we need to empower the coaches’ body by making it independent,” Haiya said.

He said the coaches’ association needs to conduct courses regularly on its own and not through FAM.

“There is a need for all football coaches in the country to be affiliated to the coaches’ body for easy transmission of information and knowledge,” said Haiya.

NFCA chairperson Aubrey Nankhuni welcomed FAM’s decision, saying it will help to make coaching a vibrant profession.

“For instance, the NFCA helps its members to have legal backing and advice on contractual issues with clubs.

“We are always there for the coaches if their clubs come up with unrealistic targets such as winning all trophies in elite football with all the 16 teams eyeing the same honours,” he said.

A Super League coach, who spoke on condition of anonymity, yesterday said he stopped paying the NFCA membership fee because the association is “too selective” when it comes to opportunities for various courses and workshops.

“Even when I paid up my membership fees, I was mostly not considered for various activities and I felt it was better to step aside. I believe such things will be sorted out as membership to the NFCA is now becoming compulsory,” he said.

But Mpima insisted that it is only inactive paid-up members that are sidelined from courses and workshops.

“We have so many teams both in the leagues and outside the leagues yet some qualified coaches choose to be inactive and only resurface when courses are close by. These are the ones that are not considered for our activities,” he said.