Football Association of Malawi (FAM) is yet to decide the future of the Scorchers coach Lovemore Fazili, whose contract expires in October this year.
FAM operations director Gomezgani Zakazaka in an interview confirmed that Fazili’s two-year contract expires in two months after the association renewed it in November 2024.
But he said they are waiting for the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) in Morocco before assessing the coach’s performance.
Fazili was given targets to qualify for the Morocco Wafcon tournament and qualify for the 2027 Brazil Fifa Women’s World Cup. He has achieved both.
The Scorchers, who punched a ticket to the 2027 World Cup after defeating Ghana in the quarter-finals, will face Cameroon in the Wafcon final Sunday.
Football analysts have called for his retention after his historic achievements at Wafcon in Morocco.
Fazili’s achievements satisfy the performance targets he was given, according to analyst George Chiusiwa said.
He said: “Fazili has attained historic exploits and strides by making it to the 2026 Wafcon tournament, where they surpassed people’s expectations by reaching the final and booking a berth at the World Cup 2027, as well as reaching the final of the continental football showpiece in Morocco.
“He should be given a fresh mandate to guide the Scorchers as his achievements with the team are far much better than the miserable situation of the Flames whose technical stewardship is vehemently supported and lauded publicly by the FAM leadership,”
Another analyst, Twaha Chimuka, said FAM’s decision should be guided by the deliverables contained in Fazili’s contract.
He said: “The contract should ideally spell out deliverables that should be pulled out as his performance is being evaluated.
“A clear take is that he has delivered beyond expectation if we are to look at what was obtaining at the time of his appointment in 2024.”
Before his contract was renewed in 2024, Fazili had gone for more than a year without a contract after guiding Malawi to the 2023 Cosafa Women’s Championship.
Chimuka said retaining Fazili is crucual for continuity within the technical setup.
“If there are areas that require beefing up, then let those areas be dealt with as such. It will be sad to let glory overshadow the digging of the trenches,” he said.
Fazili was not available for comment as we went to press yesterday.
