FIFA president Infantino praises Nyamilandu for FAM’s football development work

Infantino and Nyamilandu at FIFA’s Paris Bureau yesterday

* From a solid financial platform, they have made great use of FIFA Forward funds

* To complete a number of projects, and already have more in the pipeline

* They are giving every talent at every level the opportunity to flourish, and their efforts to boost women’s football, in particular, are really pleasing and very clearly bearing fruit

By Duncan Mlanjira

President for the world football governing body, FIFA, Gianni Infantino has congratulated Football Association of Malawi (FAM) president Walter Nyamilandu Manda’s administration on the beautiful game’s progress in the country.

A report on Fam.mw as well as on FIFA website, says Infantino met Nyamilandu at FIFA’s Paris Bureau on Wednesday and discussed in what was described as “the highly encouraging development of youth and women’s football in the African country”.

This follows Malawi Scorchers’ triumph of the 2023 COSAFA Women’s Championship last week – Malawi’s first such title – that came on the back of their runners-up finish two years earlier.

Aided by FIFA Forward funds, the renovations to the FAM technical centre in Blantyre, the Mpira Village, have given national teams improved facilities in which to prepare, as observed by FIFA.

And the triumph by the Scorchers — 2-1 against defending champions Zambia after winning all their five matches — is the benefit from the FIFA Forward funds for the Scorchers in particular.

FIFA takes cognizance that many of the squad that have won the COSAFA title are in their teens, adding that youth development is also a particular focus of the FAM, which has ploughed FIFA Forward funding into grassroots football.

The academy in Mzuzu is currently undergoing phased improvements, while Malawi is one of 100 member associations to have launched the FIFA Football for Schools project aimed at giving children skills for life as well as football.

Thus Infantino told the media in Paris: “I must congratulate my friend, Walter on the fantastic work he and his team are doing to develop football in Malawi.

“From a solid financial platform, they have made great use of FIFA Forward funds to complete a number of projects, and already have more in the pipeline.

“They are giving every talent at every level the opportunity to flourish, and their efforts to boost women’s football, in particular, are really pleasing and very clearly bearing fruit.”

FIFA also congratulated Southern African football whose women’s competition continues to grow backed by FIFA support — also recognising excellent performances by Zambia and South Africa who qualified for the Round of 16 of the Fifa Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

FIFA Forward funding, which has increased seven-fold since the start of Infantino’s presidency in 2016, has also helped FAM develop a U-14 and U-16 national league and enabled improvements across Malawi’s football landscape, including providing support to district competitions in order to develop the deep pool of talent in rural areas.

On his part, Nyamilandu – a former FIFA Council member who currently sits on the CAF Executive Committee – said he was humbled and grateful of FIFA’s backing.

“It means a lot,” he is quoted as saying. “One, we’re able to look after our operations, look after the members of staff that are administering football — but more importantly, we’re able to implement development programmes for boys and girls.

“We’re also able to look after elite football, and we are now on a journey of professionalising the elite league. We’ve rolled out club licensing, supporting the clubs as much as we can, so without the FIFA Forward funding, we would not be able to implement these programmes.

“In the past, we were not able to have grassroots football, we didn’t have youth football development programmes because the money wasn’t enough. But when the funding increased substantially, we’re now going into setting up structures and systems on the ground.”

Held in Gauteng, South Africa from October 4-15, the 11th edition of the COSAFA Women’s Championship was financially supported by FIFA with US$1.25 million, which is the annual grant to COSAFA for the organisation of tournaments through Fifa Forward.

FIFA website says for the 4th consecutive year, a research project dedicated to female health was conducted during the competition, adding that the COSAFA Women’s Championship are providing crucial playing opportunities for women’s national teams and players in southern Africa.

“COSAFA is very happy with the year-on-year improvement in the level of play,” COSAFA secretary general, Sue Destombes is quouted as saying. “This year, we have seen a marked improvement by Malawi and Mozambique, as well as eSwatini and Lesotho.

“This development is largely due to Fifa’s Forward grant to the Zonal Unions and the ability to organise consistent annual tournaments.”

In addition to the COSAFA Women’s Championship, Fifa Forward zonal funding also supported the hosting of the COSAFA qualifying tournament for the CAF Women’s Champions League from August 30-September 8 in Durban, South Africa.

Soon after his appointment in March, Youth & Sports Minister, Uchizi Mkandawire lauded FAM saying the government considers the Beautiful Game’s governing body as a model for all sporting disciplines in the country.

He said this on his familiarization tour of Mpira Village at Chiwembe in Limbe where he was impressed with what he had seen there and the overall structure and operations of FAM.

“FAM is able to do business using the Mpira Village facility thereby complementing their activities, which is commendable and we consider FAM as a model for all sporting disciplines looking at how organised they are,” he had said.

The beautiful state-of-the-art Mpira Stadium has hosted two editions of the COSAFA Under-17 championship in 2019 and the following year, 2020.

It plays host to high profile tournaments such as the TNM Super League, FDH Bank Cup, the Airtel Top 8, women’s football league and is the training facility for all national teams as the whole Mpira is one-stop service centre — complete with accommodation and catering facilities.