No more second chance
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) says with effect from next season, it will not issue provisional licences to Super League clubs that fail to meet club licensing conditions in full.
This means that clubs that will fail to meet all the six requirements will not be registered for the 2023 TNM Super League season.
In an interview on Wednesday, the association’s club licensing and compliance manager Casper Jangale said this follows a directive from the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
He said: “In the past, clubs were graded based on percentage, but from now on, that will no longer be the case.
“CAF feels clubs have been given enough time to embrace club licensing and, therefore, from next season, there will be no second chance.”
Jangale said FAM will hold a workshop this Saturday to brief clubs on the new guidelines.
He said: “The workshop will be followed by the actual implementation of the 2023 club licensing procedure where clubs will have to submit documents supporting all the six criteria that we are going to use for club licensing.
“This process will close on March 2 ready for the First Instance Body to review and issue licences as per the submitted documents.”
On whether the move is realistic considering that newly-promoted teams may not have enough time to meet the requirements, Jangale said: “If we keep on taking a soft approach on such issues, we will not achieve our goals.
“I believe by now both existing and newly-promoted teams know what to expect in the Super League.”
The six criteria for club licensing are sporting, infrastructure, administrative and personnel, financial, legal and the newly-introduced business and commercial.
Clubs The Nation spoke to on Wednesday welcomed the development.
Mighty Waka-Waka Tigers general secretary (GS) Akuzike Kafwamba said: “It’s a welcome development for football in the country so long as the authorities apply their minds when implementing the regulations.”
On his part, Civil Service United GS Ronald Chiwaula said while the development is good, FAM hardly sticks to its guns on licensing.
He said: “It sounds good, but this is a song that is sang season in, season out. Some dogs are just good at barking, but they can’t bite.
“We hope this time FAM is serious enough. Only when FAM is serious then clubs will also up their game.”
Nyasa Big Bullets chief administration officer Albert Chigoga said: “This is a welcome development. Club licensing was introduced some years ago and it is only ideal that standards must keep improving in order for clubs to become truly professional.”
Last season, Blue Eagles were the only team to be issued with an outright licence.
