There is a revelation that the Flames have been invited to this year’s Cecafa Senior Challenge Cup to be hosted by Kenya from November 24 to December 3, which FAM has described as a welcome development.
According to Goal.com, Malawi has been invited to the East and Central Africa annual tournament as guests alongside Zambia and Zimbabwe.
Reacting to the news, Football Association of Malawi (FAM) chief executive officer (CEO) Suzgo Nyirenda said participation at the event will keep the Flames active.
“As you know that the next engagement for the Flames is somewhere around December, this tournament will make our boys active before their next big game,” said Nyirenda.
He, however, said his association will not commit itself to say much about the invitation as they had not yet received official communication from Cecafa. He said once that comes, they will look at issues about funding and the technical make up of the team.
The FAM CEO said despite welcoming the invitation, they would not want Flames’ engagements to disturb the domestic football league calendar which is expected to wind up in December.
In a separate interview, former Flames captain Peter Mponda described the Cecafa invitation as a positive development and an opportunity to help the Flames keep in shape for future tournaments.
Kenya last hosted the Cecafa tournament in 2009 and their staging it this year comes in the wake of deadly terrorist attacks at one of Nairobi’s shopping malls which claimed over 60 lives.
Teams to participate in this year’s competition include Tanzania, Zanzibar, Burundi, Eritrea, Djibouti, Sudan, South Sudan, Rwanda, defending champions Uganda and hosts Kenya.
