Football Association of Malawi (FAM) and Super League of Malawi (Sulom) say they are confident of a violence-free 2025 season.
In an interview on Tuesday, FAM competitions and communications director Gomezgani Zakazaka said they are encouraged by last season trends.
He said: “First of all, we have to review last season. It was a wonderful season with very few incidents of violence as compared to previous seasons. This was due to a number of factors. The first was the stewards training that we hosted that was presided over by a top Fifa/CAF security officer from Uganda.
“Then we held a meeting with the Super League clubs supporters leadership before the start of the season and the second round as well. These meetings helped to build a network on how teams can collaborate when they play each in managing crowds.”
He added that the introduction of clubs stewards has ensured that clubs take ownership in crowd management.
“This season we will engage the supporters again to review last season and share insights on this year. We also plan to host a high profile safety and security workshop later in the year,” said Zakazaka.
Sulom vice-president Ronald Chiwaula said they have already been working on security ahead of the season.
“We have had meetings with Sub- Committee on Safety and Security to strategise on how to curb violence in matches. We are currently involving more stakeholders.
“We have also asked chairpersons for supporters committees of teams to engage their subjects and advise them on the need to have a violence-free season. If teams will be involved in such acts, heavy fines will be imposed,” he said.
Silver Strikers, who host two big games against Mighty Wanderers in the NBS Bank Charity Shield on Saturday and FCB Nyasa Big Bullets in the TNM league relaunch the other week, have already started holding meetings with zonal supporters to sensitise them to the need to avoid violence.
“We are moving from region to region with the message of no to violence. At the weekend we met supporters from our zonal areas from all the districts in the Central Region. From here we will go to South, Eastern Region and then the North.
“We want to protect the brands of various sponsors who support the club. Last year despite being beaten up in Blantyre we did not retaliate in Lilongwe. We really don’t want to be associated with violence,” said Silver national supporters committee chairperson King Malaya.
