Malawi offered to host Cosafa Cup again
Questions of capacity have emerged after the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) once again gave Malawi the first option to host 2014 Cosafa Senior Challenge Cup.
After Zambia successfully hosted and won the 2013 Cosafa Cup on Saturday, Cosafa chief operations officer Sue Destombes said Malawi was next possible hosts.
“We will also be engaging with prospective host countries as early as this week, but we will give Malawi an opportunity to forward their bid to host,” Destombes told www.sowetan.co.za
“Malawi was due to host the event in 2012, but due to unforeseen circumstances that unfolded in that country, it was cancelled.”
On Wednesday, FAM chief executive officer Suzgo Nyirenda and sports director in the Ministry of Youth and Sports Jameson Ndalama said there were factors to be weighed before making a commitment.
The suspect condition and subsequent closure of Kamuzu Stadium and inadequate broadcasting equipment by MBC TV, reportedly threw FAM’s plans to host the 2012 edition of the cup off balance.
“There are issues of broadcasting equipment to beam games outside the country. The options were on purchasing or hiring. Having no flag carrier and the stadium being closed are other challenges,” Nyirenda said, adding that FAM executive would make a final decision.
Ndalama, separately, on Wednesday said while government is willing to host such a competition, “it is not about just hosting but hosting properly.”
Government is waiting for FAM’s fresh request to host the cup. MBC director general Benson Tembo could not take questions on the telephone on Wednesday.
To host an invent, a country needs a minimum of four stadiums of international standard, Football Association of Zambia (FAZ) general secretary George Kasengela noted on Wednesday when asked what it took for them to hold the cup.
“You also need adequate financing. Our government put in substantial amount of money [KR 15 million or MK88 million]. The reason why it didn’t place there in Malawi has to do with issues regarding television. It is a sponsors’ requirement for a television station with an international feed of very high standard to feed the rest of the region,” Kasengele said in a telephone interview from Lusaka on Wednesday.
