Transfer window to be extended

 Football authorities have indicated that the August mid-season domestic transfer window will be moved following the delayed 2020 TNM Super League season kick off.

The development is also in line with Fifa’s decision to move the summer transfer window.

Both Football Association of Malawi (FAM) and Super League of Malawi (Sulom) confirmed the development yesterday.

FAM player transfer matching system manager Casper Jangale said since the league has failed to kick off, it also follows that the transfer window will have to be shifted.

But Sulom general secretary Williams Banda said the date for mid-season transfer window will be known once the league kicks off.

He said: “We usually have the transfer window from January to March. The window then reopens in August.

“But since the league has not kicked off, then the mid-season transfer window will not fall in August.”

In a related development, Malawian players wishing to move to foreign clubs will have to wait as Fifa has announced that contracts ending in June as well as transfer window should be extended.

Reads the statement in part: “It is now obvious that the current season will not end when people thought it would. Therefore, it is proposed that contracts be extended until such time that the season does actually end.

“A similar principle applies to contracts due to begin when the new season starts, meaning the entry into force of such contracts is delayed until the next season actually does start. It is also necessary to adjust the normal regulatory position to the new factual circumstances.”

“Accordingly, Fifa will be flexible and allow the relevant transfer windows to be moved so they fall between the end of the old season and the start of the new season.”

Jangale said this means all players that had targeted to move to other clubs in June cannot do so.

Fifa introduced the electronic player transfer matching system to harmonise the processing of players transfers worldwide.

Football has come to a standstill across the world following the Covid-19 pandemic