Malawi Beach Soccer National Team on Sunday flew to Mombasa, Kenya for Council of East and Central Africa Football Association (Cecafa) Beach Soccer Championship only to learn that the tournament was shifted to yet-to-be-disclosed dates.
The championship was scheduled to start today up to July 20 but in a statement on Sunday, Cecafa executive director Auka Gecheo announced “the championship has been postponed following a request from the County Government of Mombasa and the relevant national government authorities”.
The statement adds that Cecafa will announce new dates to align with Mombasa County Government’s strategic timelines and work closely with local partners.
Malawi was invited to the competition by Cecafa and was expected to face Burundi in their Group A opening fixture tomorrow. Other teams in their group were Kenya and Zanzibar.
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) competitions and communications director Gomezgani Zakazaka yesterday said Cecafa’s communication on the change came after the team had already departed for Kenya.
Tanzania in a previous match. | Nation
“Actually, the arrival date for Malawi team in Kenya was Sunday morning. By the time Cecafa was releasing the postponement statement, our team had already left and we could not do anything about it,” he said.
Meanwhile, Zakazaka said the team is expected to return home tomorrow.
When asked how much the team has spent for the trip, the FAM competitions and communications director said he did not have the estimates.
However, according to Kenya Airways, a return air ticket for an individual from Lilongwe to Nairobi Kenya is estimated at $483, which is approximately over K838 000 at the current official rate of K1 735 per dollar.
When that is multiplied by the 17 members that have made the trip, the total air ticket cost comes to over K14 million. The amount spent could be more when accommodation costs are factored in.
But how would FAM recover the money wasted?
Zakazaka said: “We will engage Cecafa on how we can be compensated.”
In spite of that, he said Malawi will do their best to participate in the competition once new dates are announced because they still need the tournament to keep the team active after the Cosafa Beach Soccer Championship failed to take place in April.
“Beach Soccer National Team has been doing well as it qualified for the Beach Soccer Africa Cup of Nations back-to-back in 2022 and 2023. This tournament is a great opportunity to keep the team active,” he said.
Initially, the inaugural Cecafa Beach Soccer Championship was slated for June 6 to 11 but was shifted to July 7 to 12.
It was later rescheduled to July 16 to 20 before the latest postponement.
