Malawi National Council of Sports has said it will not fund the Scorchers’ trip to Zambia for two international friendlies due to the timing of the matches.
Sports Council chief executive officer Henry Kamata said this in reaction to Football Association of Malawi (FAM) president Fleetwood Haiya’s statement on Thursday that the friendlies would be subject to government funding the trip.
The two friendlies are scheduled for February 20 and 23 in Zambia.
In an interview, Kamata said: “We got the request from FAM just last week and we responded.
“We explained to them that we are heading towards the end of the financial year and we cannot go to Treasury to negotiate for extra funds.
“Besides that, the event was not budgeted for as it was not on their [FAM] initial programme of activities.”
During an interactive session with football followers on Facebook on Thursday night, Haiya said: “National teams are government’s responsibility and it will depend on government providing the funds [for the trip].
“[Otherwise], we are in touch with all our foreign-based players so that we should have them for the Zambia matches.”
The FAM boss said they had already communicated with Malawi National Council of Sports and the Ministry of Youth and Sports on the matter.
“We should not look down upon women’s football because it is putting us on the map and, as FAM, we want the women’s national team to be active,” he said.
When contacted on Sunday, Haiya said: “We have not received any communication about the Scorchers [from Sports Council].”.
Last week, the Malawi Women’s National Football Team coach Lovemore Fazili said the friendlies would help them keep up with their opponents in the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) qualifiers.
Recently, Scorchers’ US-based forward Temwa Chawinga opened up on her fustrations and accused government and FAM of not supporting women’s football the way they do with the men’s game.
The Scorchers were scheduled to face Congo Brazaville in the first round of the tournament during the upcoming Fifa international window, but the latter pulled out, leading to Malawi sailing through without kicking a ball.
“These two friendlies are coming at the right time as they will help us get a real test of our strength because Zambia are one of the strong teams on the continent,” said Fazili.
Football Association of Zambia general secretary Reuben Kamanga said the friendlies would help the Copper Queens tune up for the delayed 2024 Wafcon finals scheduled for Morocco in July.
He was quoted by FAZ website fazfootball.com as having said: “We are delighted to announce that the Copper Queens will be in action during the Fifa window with two international friendlies against Malawi.
“The friendlies have been organised as the first part of the preparations for Wafcon and give the newly-appointed technical panel an opportunity to get down to work.”
