Saudi Arabia FA to host Flames
Saudi Arabia Football Federation (Saff) has accepted FAM’s request to fund the Flames’ camping in the oil-rich country for two weeks next January.
The Flames will camp in the Middle East to prepare for back-to-back 2023 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers against seven-time African champions Egypt’s Pharaohs.
The development comes as a relief for the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) which has already exhausted its K210 million annual funding for the Flames for the current financial year.
FAM president Walter Nyamilandu said in an interview the Saff is expected to spend about K150 million on the Flames’ camping, which will include training matches.
He said:”It’s great to see that the partnership with Saff is working to good effect. The gesture to host the Flames is just timely.
“It is also a huge saving coming at a time that funding for the Flames has been depleted.
“It will be an ideal camping site for the Flames to recondition ahead of the crucial encounters with the Pharaohs of Egypt.”
Nyamilandu said there are no conditions attached to the Saff’s gesture.
“It is just out of sheer goodwill. We are trying to get into a fully-fledged partnership and this is just part of that process. Just as we did for the Afcon camping, we sent them a proposal and they accepted,” he said.
Flames coach Mario Marinica, who was in Saudi Arabia to attend a coaching conference alongside his assistant Patrick Mabedi, was quoted by MBC Radio 2 as having said he was excited to learn about the positive response.
He said: “It is fantastic news for the nation as we are now 99 percent certain that we are going to camp in Saudi Arabia.
“They have also offered to arrange training matches for us and this is going to help us a lot in preparing for the upcoming games against Egypt, Guinea and Morocco.”
The coach also said Malawi will also benefit in terms of coaches’ training.
The Saff also funded the Flames when they were preparing for the 2021 Afcon finals in Cameroon in January this year.
The Flames will travel to Egypt for the first leg scheduled for March 20 before facing off again eight days later at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe.
Ironically, all the four teams in Group D have three points each, but Ethiopia’s Walyas top the group courtesy of a better goal difference, followed by the Flames, Guinea’s Syli Nationale and the Pharaohs.
Malawi beat Ethiopia 2-1 in their opening qualifier at home before losing 1-0 to Guinea away.
