* Women’s team features five players who recently took part in the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup qualifiers against the Central African Republic
* Men’s includes four players who featured in last year’s COSAFA CUP edition of the tournament in Maputo, Mozambique
* President Chakwera hosted the whole 165 youth Team Malawi at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe today as a send-off ceremony
* Where he urged them to believe in themselves and seize the moment by striving to bring more medals home
By Duncan Mlanjira, Maravi Express & Tabbu Kitta Kauye, MANA
The country’s most successful football academy, Ascent Soccer has contributed a total of seven players in the men’s and women’s squads to participate at the U20 men’s and women’s teams for 11th African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Regional 5 Youth Games 2025 in Windhoek, Namibia from from July 4 to 13.
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In his 18-member squad, men’s head coach Millias Pofera Jegwe has included Ascent Soccer’s Lackson Wahita and Mwisho Mhango, while the women’s mentor Linda Kasenda has selected Faith Chinzimu, Talandira Chinyamvula, Victoria Mkwala, Mayamiko Mkandawire and Fatima Lali.
The football category of the AUSC Region 5 Youth Games will be managed by the Council of Southern African Football Associations (COSAFA) and in men’s squad, coach Millias Pofera Jegwe has included four players who featured in last year’s COSAFA Cup in Maputo, Mozambique.
On the women’s side, Kasenda also has a strong 18-member squad comprising The five players who recently took part in the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup qualifiers against the Central African Republic.
A statement from Football Association of Malawi says both teams went into camp in Lilongwe yesterday to kickstart preparations for the regional showpiece in which the men’s team will open their campaign against Zimbabwe on July 4, while the women’s team will begin their journey on the same day with a match against hosts Namibia.
The other men’s opponents in Group A are Angola and Zimbabwe while the women’s side are also in Group A alongside hosts Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe.
The full squads are as follows:
Men’s
* Goalkeepers: Luciano Fanuel (Chibabvi Real Stars), Ishmael Mdoka (Play Football Malawi Academy);
* Defenders: Precious Manjawira (Ekhaya Reserve), James Musongole (Play Football Malawi Academy), Kondwani Tebulo (Bullets Reserve), Felix Jalasi (Manchester Motors), Lackson Wahita (Ascent Soccer);
* Midfielders: James Lumbe (Ekhaya FC), Yusuf Namtunga (Ekhaya Reserve), Moffat Mnyontho (Silver Strikers Reserve), Misheck Billiat & Maxwell Sakanamba (Bullets Reserve), Precious Kwalenga (Waka Waka Tigers), Madalitso Safuli (Bangwe All Stars), Mwisho Mhango (Ascent Soccer);
* Forwards: Clifford Chisale (Chibabvi Real Stars), Lameck Mithi (Moyale Barracks), Maxwell Sidreck (Manchester Motors).
Women’s
* Goalkeepers: Ireen Sibande (Silver Strikers Ladies), Emily Nkhwazi (Kukoma Ntopwa);
* Defenders: Alinafe Milanzi (Fact), Emily Gama Samuel (Civil Service Womens), Chikondi Benjamin (Mighty Wanderers), Faith Chinzimu & Talandira Chinyamvula (Ascent Soccer), Joyce Makweya (Kukoma Ntopwa);
* Midfielders: Jacqueline Kamputa & Anna Baziliyo (Civil Service Womens), Faluna Umali & Grace Khunga (Mighty Wanderers), Victoria Mkwala (Ascent Soccer), Sarah Mulimbika (Ndilande Soccer Giants);
* Forwards: Chikondi Mgodi (Nyasa Big Bullets), Mayamiko Mkandawire & Fatima Lali (Ascent Soccer), Jean Fyson (Civil Service Womens).
Meanwhile, President Lazarus Chakwera has hosted the whole 165 youth Team Malawi at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe today as a send-off ceremony where he urged them to believe in themselves and seize the moment by striving to bring more medals home.
President Chakwera presents the Malawi flag to the athletes at the event where the youths displayed several sports displays.—Pictures by Patricia Kapulula, MANA
Malawi News Agency (MANA) reports that Chakwera told the youth that their victory should not be determined by their physical size, strength and appearance but their determination, courage and inner spirit.
“It is not the dog in the fight that determines the victory but it is the fight in the dog,” Chakwera said, adding that the government will continue to support the development and promotion of all sports disciplines in the country.
“It is for this reason that my government included sports development as one of the priority areas in the MW2063, under the Human Capital Development, to ensure that sports is recognised and supported like any other development sector in the country.”
While noting that the performance of sporting activities has been poor for the past twenty years, the President said time has now come to address whatever factors stalled the progress of the country’s sports development.
On his part, Malawi National Sports Council Board chairperson, Dr. Sunduzwayo Madise, said in the same spirit of the government supporting sports development, the youth athletes are implored to be as dynamites — ready to explode on the Namibian soil and make Malawi proud.
And speaking on behalf of the athletes, Pempho Datchi pledged to compete with heart, courage and discipline in order to raise the Malawi flag high, saying: “We are going to represent our families, our communities and our nation.
“We are going as proud sons and daughters of Malawi, ready to compete,” declared Datchi. “This year’s theme; “Own Your Moment’, speaks directly to us, it reminds us that our time is now, it is our moment to rise and show Malawi what Malawian youths are made of.”
The 165 youth athletes are in various sports disciplines — football, basketball, judo, swimming, e-sports, volleyball.
The AUSC regional 5 games is a specialised technical office of the African Union, responsible for sports development and coordination across the African continent.
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According to COSAFA Media, the football tournament will both form the regional championship in southern Africa for that age-group, where new champions will be crowned — but this year, there is no qualification for CAF continental competitions after South Africa won the CAF U20 Africa Cup of Nations (AfCON) title in Egypt in May in the tournament that is played every two years.
The men’s U20 Group B contains reigning COSAFA champions South Africa, their old foes Zambia alongside eSwatini and Botswana. The top two teams in each of the pools advance to the semifinals.
COSAFA Women’s champions Zambia are the top seed in Group B and will play South Africa, eSwatini and Angola.
COSAFA Media reports that the COSAFA U20 Women’s Championship made a return to the calendar last year for the first time since 2019 won by COSAFA side Zambia having been won in the previous edition by east African guest nation, Tanzania.
Zambia are record 12-time winners of the regional finals in the men’s competition, with defending champions South Africa claiming nine victories. Zimbabwe have been champions six times, and Madagascar and Mozambique once each.
