Flames to face Kenya in opening 4-Nations tourney with Zambia up against Zimbabwe

* The winners of the two matches will play then in the final while the losers will be involved in a third place play-off

* The pairing is the same for the Under-20’s — semifinals on Thursday, March 21, final and third place playoffs on March 24

Maravi Express

Day 1 of the 4-Nations tournament will kick off on Saturday, March 23 at the Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe where Malawi Flames will face Kenya with Zambia up against Zimbabwe.

The winners of the two matches will play then in the final while the losers will be involved in a third place play-off on Tuesday, March 26 at the same venue.

Football Association of Malawi (FAM) also announced that the pairing is the same for the Under-20’s, whose semifinals will be played on Thursday, March 21 with final and third place playoffs scheduled for Sunday, March 24.

Both coaches, Patrick Mabedi for the Flames and Bob Mpinganjira for the Malawi U20 national team are in preparations for the tournament, which the three FAs of Malawi Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe agreed to hold jointly — taking advantage of the FIFA open window.

Coach Mabedi’s squad of home-based players were camp in Blantyre for the past two weeks and is expected to move to Lilongwe tomorrow, March 15 where he will then include the foreign-based players since this tournament has been organised in a FIFA window and all players are available for selection.

The three FAs agreed to the tournament as it will present a valuable opportunity for the senior national teams to face quality opposition in preparation for upcoming 2026 FIFA World Cup and Africa Cup of Nation (AFCON Morocco 2025 qualifying campaigns.

The U20 tournaments will aid in developing and exposing elite youth talent while preparing teams for upcoming 2024 AFCON U-20 qualifiers later this year.

“Our four nations are committed to collaborating for the advancement of football development and transformation across the region,” said the four FAs in a joint statement.

“We believe hosting these joint tournaments will build camaraderie between our nations, provide high-level competition for our players, and elevate youth football programs across Kenya, Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

“We look forward to hosting exciting tournaments that showcase the very best talent our countries have to offer,” said the statement, while indicating that further details on match schedules and tournament logistics will be announced in due course.—Info from Fam.mw