Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has apologised to stakeholders, including sponsors FDH Bank plc, clubs, fans and the government for the impasse that led to the postponement of the K5 billion FDH Premiership launch at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre on Saturday.
FAM president Fleetwood Haiya made the apology yesterday during a press conference at Sunbird Mount Soche in Blantyre.
“We apologise for the inconvenience caused. We stuck to our guns in the interest of all our stakeholders, including the sponsor, fans and government. We want to protect the lives of the fans and we want to protect the interest of the sponsor,” he said.
The impasse led to the postponement of the FDH Premiership launch before the bank later announced the suspension of all FDH Bank plc sports related sponsorships, collectively pegged at K7.5 billion.
Nonetheless, Haiya, who was accompanied by his executive committee, said FAM will summon the Super League of Malawi (Sulom) for a disciplinary hearing for disregarding the ban on Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre.
He said considering the sequence of events, there was nothing wrong FAM did by putting its foot down on the status of the facility.
“Sulom disregarded the directive which is a violation of FAM statutes and they will face disciplinary action,” said Haiya.
He said FAM did nothing wrong other than stick to the rules.
“The issue of facilities is handled by the First Instance Body [FIB] which operates independently and we do not interfere in its operations or decisions and that is why in 2025, they barred Mpira Stadium, which we own and, assuming we had the powers, we would have overturned that decision,” he said.
Haiya also said when Sulom fixed the match at Kamuzu Stadium, FAM reminded Sulom on the status of the facility and advised them to change it to an alternative venue, “but for some reason, they disregarded that”.
He said this is why they still stuck to their guns even when the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Alfred Gangata asked them to soften up and pave the way for the launch.
The FAM boss also said the request to inspect the stadium came from Sulom instead of the stadium owners, the Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture.
The FAM president also said Sulom runs the flagship league on the association’s behalf, “and if we wanted, we would stop them from managing the league”.
Sulom vice-general secretary Donnex Chilonga said they will respond at an appropriate time.
“We will have a meeting soon where we will map the way forward,” he said.
