FAM awards Malawi’s outstanding football personalities

* Dennis Saidi—former Flames goalkeeper

* Everson Mkwangwanya—retired FIFA Referee

* Robin Alufandika—industrious football administrator

* Ascent Academy (George Maguire)—exceptional youth development initiatives

By Duncan Mlanjira

At its annual general meeting (AGM) held at Chatonda Lodge in Nkhata Bay on Saturday, Football Association of Malawi (FAM) rewarded four outstanding football personalities in the country.

They are legendary former Flames goalkeeper, Dennis Saidi; former FIFA referee, Everson Mkwangwanya; illustrious administrator, Robin Alufandika and founder of Ascent Academy, George Maguire for its exceptional youth development initiatives — each rewarded with certificates and K500,000.

The citations of the four as compiled by Fam.mw are as follows:

Denis Saidi

He is  a legendary international goalkeeper who played for Bata Bullets, now Nyasa Big Bullets, who started his international career when he was 20 years old when he was first drafted in the Malawi national schools in 1974 that travelled to play against the Kenyan.

At that time, he was studying at Namitete Technical School and was playing for Toyota Cranes and Central Region Schools and he went on to play his first Flames game under caretaker coach Hydri when he came on as a substitute for John Dzimbiri in a 1-8 loss to neighbors Zambia in Lusaka on March 27, 1977.

He retained his place under newly-appointed coach George Curtis, where he kept three consecutive clean sheets in two goalless draws and a 1-0 win against Tanzania.

Saidi later became an understudy to late Boniface Maganga under British coach, late Ted Powell and played in the East and Central Senior Challenge Cup (ECASCC) on December 8, 1977 in a 2-1 victory against Kenya to win the bronze medal.

He continued to understudy Maganga and Dzimbiri, but was called back in the 7th fixture of 1978 during an All-Africa Games in Algiers, Algeria against Egypt.

He played in 5 of the ECASCC games and was in goals when Malawi won their first gold medal after the historic triumph 3-2 over Zambia 3-2 on home soil at Kamuzu Stadium.

He was also the first-choice goalkeeper as Malawi successfully defended the East and Central Challenge Cup in Kenya in 1979 and went on to shine at the top stage before playing his last international match on November 18, 1981 in a 2-2 draw against Tanzania in Dar es Salaam.

In total he played 21 Flames games and kept five clean sheets winning two trophies. He also won several trophies with Bullets.

Everson Mkwangwanya

Mkwangwanya was born on July 9, 1943 and got qualified as a referee in 1971 while working for Commercial Bank. He moved to Zomba where he officiated matches whilst working as a bank manager between 1974 and 1976.

In 1978 he was picked on into the prestigious FIFA list of referees while working as Commercial Bank manager in Lilongwe up until he was also transferee to Blantyre in 1983 where he continued football officiation as a FIFA referee and as a national referees instructor.

He was chairperson of FAM Referees Sub-committee from 1985 to 1988 and during his time, he mostly got international appointments and travelled together with fellow legendary refs, Bester Kalombo and Billy Phambala.

At that time referees were not specializing; one would officiate as a referee today and tomorrow as a linesman yet wearing a FIFA Referees’ Badge. He retired from active football refereeing in 1989.

Robin Alufandika

Robin Alufandika is an industrious, passionate and dedicated football administrator and probably the longest serving club administrator in the country.

He also holds the record for being a non-coaching staff to be part of technical panels of three Super League clubs — Mighty Wanderers, MDC and Mighty Tigers.

His mainstream football career started in the early 2000’s as team manager for Mighty Wanderers, before moving to MDC United as technical advisor and later joining Admarc Tigers in the same role in 2004.

In 2005 he returned to Wanderers as team manager before making his way back to Tigers again as technical director in 2006, a role he has maintained up to date.

When Agricultural Development and Marketing Corporation (ADMARC)  stopped sponsoring Tigers in 2007, Alufandika and a few individuals joined forced to support the team to ensure it did not die and while the other volunteers threw in the towel, he stuck with the team and has used own resources for the past 16 years to single-handedly keep Tigers.

While most football clubs that were sponsored by statutory corporations like Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) and Malawi Development Corporation (MDC) died a natural death when the companies stopped sponsoring them, Alufandika has ensured Tigers remains intact as a top performing Super League midtable side despite losing ADMARC support.

To date Tigers proudly stand among the four teams alongside Bullets, Wanderers and Silver to have been ever present in each season since the Super league was formed in 1986.

He also has a good eye for talent as he scouts raw talent from rural areas and polish them into gems, who are quickly poached by bigger teams and turn into national team assets.

Stanley Sanudi, Yamikani Chester, Limbikani Mzava and most recently new Flames goalkeeper Innocent Nyasulu are some of his products.

Ascent Soccer Academy-George Maguire

Non-Malawian George Maguire is founder of Ascent Soccer Malawi in  late-2014 that opened its doors as a football development institution under the name ‘Chigoli Academy’ — strategically located in the capital Lilongwe.

Since it’s inception, Ascent Soccer has developed into a residential academy with over 80% of its players in boarding facilities and I t is the only full-time academy soccer and scholarship program in the country.

Through guidance of Maguire, it delivers opportunities and global pathways for both boys and girls and over the years, Ascent Soccer has run regional talent identification events and open trials for over 40,000 youth, from which  their current group of 65 student-athletes has been selected.

Over seven years of programming, they have enrolled full-time soccer scholars from every region of Malawi, whose current academy set-up includes male U-14, U-16 and U-18 squads, along with the U-14 & U-18 Ascent Girls.

All five groups enjoy a full-time academic, character, football, and health/nutrition program, led by a committed group of international and local staff — and there are no fees or costs for any of Ascent’s student-athletes.

So far the Academy has sent seven players abroad, six to the USA on a global scholarship programme and one to Italy. The opportunities available abroad are life-changing, and these talented and determined student-athletes are on a journey to the NCAA and world-class soccer and scholastic pathways.

The Ascent Soccer Global Scholars are currently on full scholarship at some of North America’s best academic institutions and it has also produced over 15 youngsters who have represented Malawi in different national football teams.

Two girls Ireen Khumalo and Marian Mnenula were part of the women’s national football team at last year’s COSAFA Women’s Championship while four girls and four girls were in the Malawi Under-17 squads for the 2022 Regional 5 Games.

Maguire was responsible for sending Malawi’s best female export Tabitha Chawinga to Europe, whom he spotted with her local club at age 17 and after pulling together a video and spreading the word, helped her land a professional contract with Sweden’s Kvarnsvedens IK.

In 2019, Maguire was honoured with Non-Citizen of the Year award by Malawi Sport annual awards administered by Malawi National Council of Sports, for the very recognition of the grassroots football development initiative.

He was also nominated for this year’s African Union Sports Council Region 5 annual sport awards (RASA) 2023 also as Non Citizen category.

Maguire (trending as Gijo Magu) posted the news of his award on Facebook, saying he was “humbled, yet proud of our work in the Warm Heart of Africa” to which he received hearty congratulations.

Kathryn Maguire wrote: “George, congratulations to you and your hard working team at Ascent — thouroughly deserved!” while Gino Cosentino also said he “really well deserved” for all the hard work he has invested in the initiative.

Malc Morgan applauded Maguire for his years of service of making a difference to youngsters.