Transfers face controls
Free-for-all signing of players on loan is now over following a Football Association of Malawi (FAM) decision to restrict the maximum to seven and that only three can be from the same club.
The development comes after the local football governing body incorporated loan restrictions in the revised rules and regulations on status and transfer of players with effect from the January 2024 transfer window.
FAM club licencing and compliance manager Casper Jangale in an interview yesterday confirmed the new regulations.
“The honeymoon is over. We would like to remind clubs signing players on loan that the regulations have changed.
He said: “They can only sign seven players on loan and they cannot sign more than three players from the same club.”
The new regulations are in line with the world football governing body Fifa’s regulations on the status and transfer of players Article 3.10 which limits the number of loans per season.
The Fifa regulation reads: “A club may have a maximum of three professionals loaned out to a specific club at any given time during a season.
“A club may have a maximum of three professionals loaned in from a specific club at any given time during a season.”
Besides limitating the number of loans per season between the same clubs, the Fifa regulations further restrict loaned out players to a maximum of six players per season.
FAM’s new regulations also mean that Super League of Malawi regulations, which are silent on limitations, have to change.
Article 15.1 on loan of players reads in part: “Any player can be loaned to another club on the terms and conditions as agreed in writing between the two clubs.”
The lack of restrictions resulted in Bangwe All Stars signing on loan 18 out of its 30-player squad in the just-ended TNM Super League season, including Chikumbutso Salima, Rahaman John, Yamikani Mologeni, Chimwemwe Yassin, Emmanuel Saviel from FCB Nyasa Bullets.
The club’s owner Mphatso Jika in an interview yesterday said this season, they have no plans to take on board loaned players.
He said: “We have learned a bitter lesson. Much as the loaned players helped us, we did not do much to expose our own players.
“The loaned players enjoyed game time with us and were exposed to top-fight football. Some of them are now wanted by foreign clubs.
“Now that they [loaned players] are back to their clubs, we must learn to survive using our own players.”
Jika said they have promoted seven players from their reserves and signed some players who are yet to be unveiled.
“I believe we have enough talent to survive without loaned players. We need to be proud of our players,” he said.
Football analyst Charles Nyirenda said the introduction of the loaned player limit was overdue.
“We can’t have a club with 18 players on loan. It’s unheard of,” he said.
