Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has secured two international friendly matches against Ethiopia amid uncertainty surrounding the 2026 Cosafa Cup.
The Flames will face Ethiopia in Addis Ababa on June 6 before meeting again in a second friendly on June 9 during the Fifa international window.
The regional tournament was expected to take place from late May to early June, but the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) is yet to confirm dates for the competition.
FAM operations director Gomezgani Zakazaka in an interview said the association moved quickly to secure the matches to avoid being caught unprepared.
He said: “As it is now, it is very unlikely that the Cosafa Cup will be held as planned. We have less than two weeks before the proposed dates and Cosafa is yet to communicate officially. That is why we decided to be proactive by securing these two friendly matches.”
Zakazaka said the games will help coach Kalisto Pasuwa prepare the team for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers.
Pasuwa is expected to announce his squad on May 28, with camp scheduled to open on June 1.
The Zimbabwean tactician described the matches as crucial in preparation for the Afcon qualifiers.
“We want to assess our mindset as both the technical team and players. We must not treat these as just friendly matches. We need to have the right mentality to win games, and we must be aggressive,” said Pasuwa.
The Flames will be returning to action after a disappointing performance at Mukuru Four Nations Tourney in Botswana.
They lost to Zambia in the semi-finals through post-match penalties and went on to lose the third place play offs to the hosts.
Pasuwa said this another chance to fine-tune the team after the poor showing during the four nation tourney.
“These two games are very important because we want to test more players and fill some gaps. Offensively, we are still struggling, and we want to improve our ability to penetrate opponents. Playing teams like Ethiopia will help us evaluate that,” he said.
Malawi last faced Ethiopia during the 2023 Afcon qualifiers, with the match ending goalless.
In eight previous meetings between the two sides, Malawi have won three matches, Ethiopia one while four ended in draws.
Pasuwa is under pressure to improvae results after registering seven wins, seven draws and six defeats in 20 matches since taking charge in October 2024.
