Analysts have warned that the Flames will continue to struggle in competitions unless there are improvements in squad consistency, game planning, empowerment of local clubs in international competitions and talent export.
Football analyst Parry Chinyama and prolific sports journalist Peter Kanjere said this yesterday when asked about their overall assessment of the national football team in 2025, following their stutter in Fifa World Cup Qualifiers, Championship of African Nations (Chan) and Cosafa Cup.
In World Cup Qualifiers, the Flames finished fourth in six-team Group H with 13 points from 10 matches, 15 behind leaders Tunisia. They won only two matches, including a walkover against absentees Equatorial Guinea, and drawn once against Liberia.
However, they lost three, including a 1-0 beating by one of the lowest ranked team Sao Tome and Principe. While the Flames are ranked 126, Sao Tome stands at 189.
In Cosafa, Malawi made a bad history by not winning or scoring in three matches but conceded twice. They lost 1-0 to Lesotho and Angola and settled for a goalless draw against Namibia.
In Chan, they beat Comoros 2-0 twice. They also won 1-0 to South Africa in the first leg before losing 2-0 in the final leg.
Said Chinyama: “As a country, we lacked planning for the competitions. We take every competition the same instead of strategising for each in isolation. Each competition has its own strengths and challenges but we failed to recognise them.”
“Another factor is that we are not consistent with our squad. We usually change players for the games, misplace them on positions and, importantly, we have no system of play.”
He added that Malawi’s technical capacity is also not impressive as they sometimes fail to read a game, especially, on knowing when to make a substitute or change style of play.
Chinyama believes another big problem is the engagement of full-time club coaches. He said this compromises player selection and brings in biasness in national team call up.
He said the frequent change of the technical panel is also to blame because the poor relationship between players and the technical team compromises performances.
“Over the years our players have been exposed to a number of coaches, which also has a bearing. We change technical team so often. We should be asking ourselves why expatriates Tom Saintfiet and Mario Marinica performed better with other national teams when we thought they were not good here,” he said.
On his part, Kanjere said the Flames’ struggles should not be surprising as football has a way of exposing those that follow shortcuts and hope for better results without corresponding planning and investment.
“At this stage, let us not be in denial. Accept that we are an average team. Rankings or not, the margins between the so-called small and big teams are now negligible. It is now about who is more organised both on and off the pitch,” he said.
Kanjere said it is difficult to perform well when a country is unable to export enough young players to top teams in Africa and Europe and junior national teams fail to compete in international competitions regularly.
“Only three domestic clubs, [FCB Nyasa Bullets, Mighty Wanderers and Silver Strikers] have the financial muscle and quality to join [not even compete] in CAF inter club competitions and occasionally,” he said.
“It is a crisis to have Gabadinho Mhango as the only Malawian footballer in South Africa. We should sit down and ask ourselves why scouts in South Africa ignore Malawi talent and insist on trials. You can’t be exporting players to Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique and expect Malawian players to take their game to the next level.
“The question is, how then do you produce quality players capable of delivering the goods in the senior national team?”
To turn things around, Kanjere said Football Association of Malawi (FAM) should empower local clubs to compete regularly [minimum of five consecutive years] in CAF inter club competitions and under-17 and under-20 national teams should be regularly competing in Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) for their age groups.
He said Malawi is exporting a few young players through the initiatives of Ascent Academy, whose understanding of talent identification and development should have been the template for the entire football fraternity.
“They are methodical. They don’t rush, they don’t allow children to drop out of school but they invest in the human being first. They have an international network and partners and they send their youth teams to Europe. That Faith Chinzimu, Mwisho Mhango and Rose Kadzere are in Europe is not by chance. The academy is very deliberate in its approach,” said Kanjere.
He applauded FAM for taking a step to scout for already-made players in Europe.
Flames technical adviser Kinnah Phiri, the Malawi football legend who guided the team to the 2010 Afcon finals in Angola, said the Flames have learned lessons from their 2025 performance and they will make amends.
“Looking at the developments happening with the team, especially towards the end of the year, the coaches assembled a very good team with young and experienced players.
“The team is progressing well and we have already started preparations for 2026 competitions with our recent friendlies against Lesotho. With a few more friendlies before competitive matches, we have hope of doing well this year,” he said.
Nevertheless, it was not all doom and groom for Malawi football as the Scorchers made historic qualification to the 2026 Women Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) finals with a 2-0 aggregate win over Angola in two-legged final qualifier.
The women’s team advanced to the final round of qualifiers with walkover victories against Congo Brazzaville, who withdrew from the tournament.
FAM president Fleetwood Haiya had not yet responded to a questionnaire about what plan the association has to ensure the Flames improve their performance.
