FA Malawi launches districts football leagues: ‘Raising the bar’
As one way of uplifting football in the country, Football Association of Malawi (FAM) on Thursday launched Districts Football Leagues.
During the unveiling at the Mpira Village on Thursday morning, president Walter Nyamilandu said that FAM will invest K60 million for the leagues to be organized in all the 28 districts across the country.
Nyamilandu said the leagues will help FAM put in place systematic football development structures to enable unearthing of talent from the rural areas.
“The leagues will fulfil our desire to the Raise the Bar by putting more effort on the Districts and Regional Football which act as feeder leagues to elite football.
“Our football has struggled to reach its full potential in the past as we spent more time and energy on the elite football and ignored the lower end.
“But that changes as we now put in place a cross cutting agenda of bottom-up in order to develop raw talented players
“The leagues will also help in capacity building for the local administrators and officials through their involvement in the organization and administration of the games. FAM is making the investment by ploughing back it’s gate revenue towards football development,” he said.
Nyamilandu has since urged the Regional and Districts Football Associations to ensure the Leagues are professionally managed so that they achieve the intended purpose.
In his remarks, FAM Vice President and Chairperson for the Competitions and Marketing Committee , Justice Jabber Alide said the leagues will be run by District Associations under the supervision of the three Regional Associations.
“The Leagues will be played on a two-legged round robin format, and shall run alongside the country’s main football calendar. Each League will have a maximum number of 16 teams and minimum of 8 teams.
“The Regional Associations will liaise with each District Association on the mode of identifying the 16 teams to play in the particular district. As Competitions Committee, we will work hand in hand with the Regionals and Districts to ensure the Leagues are a success,” said Alide.
The leagues, which are part of the Raising the Bar vision, will roll out as soon as the once the ongoing Coronavirus crisis settles down.
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