* The two are in Group H alongside Namibia, Liberia and leaders, Tunisia, who tie on 6 points with Equatorial Guinea
* The Flames are third tying on 3 points with Namibia and separated by goal difference
* The Flames first defeated Liberia 1-0 away in Monrovia before losing by same margin against Tunisia here at home
By Duncan Mlanjira
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has released outlets where tickets can be bought for Malawi Flames’ FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier against São Tomé e Príncipe to be played at Bingu National Stadium (BNS) in Lilongwe on June 6.
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For Lilongwe, the outlets are filling stations of City Centre PUMA, Likuni Discount Shop by Likuni Energem, Maula PUMA, Kafoteka, Kawale Energem, Area 23 PUMA & Walkers Total.
Others are at Area 25 Chipiku, Area 18 Red & White meat butchery, Acres Gateway Mall, R.K. Shop opposite BNS and at BNS’ Corporate Box 18.
In Blantyre, they are available at filling stations of Limbe Market Total, Ndirande Energem, Blantyre Haile Selassie Total and Kameza PUMA while Mzuzu is at Katoto PUMA.
Standard ticket is at K4,000 advance & K5,000 on match day, VIP at K20,000, Corporate Box at K30,000 while car pass is at K500.
The Flames and São Tomé e Príncipe in Group H alongside Tunisia, Namibia and Liberia, whose qualifying matches started in November in June in which the Flames are on 3rd position having beaten Liberia 1-0 away in Monrovia before losing by same margin against Tunisia here at home.
Game against Tunisia
The Flames tie on 3 points with Namibia but Namibia are on second position on goal difference while Equatorial Guinea and Tunisia tie on six points after registering two wins in Match Day 1 & 2 in November but Tunisia are at the top having a goal difference of 5 against Equatorial Guinea’s two.
Equatorial Guinea first overcame Namibia 1-0 and Liberia also 1-0 while Tunisia first beat São Tomé e Principe 4-0 before beating the Flames 1-0 with Namibia seeing off São Tomé 2-0.
After the game against São Tomé, the Flames will face Equatorial Guinea away in Malabo four days later while the next qualifying matches will be in 2025 (March, September, October and November).
In February and March, South Sudan edged out São Tomé in the preliminary round of the Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 after 1-1 result from both legs with South Sudan qualifying for the next round through an away goal rule.
São Tomé are ranked 188 as of April’s FIFA Rankings while the Flames are at 125 with the Green & Yellows’ highest FIFA ranking at 115 in 2022 and Malawi at 53 in 1992.
In January 2012, São Tomé achieved their first ever aggregate win in the preliminary round AFCON 2013 defeating Lesotho 1–0 at home then successfully defending a 0–0 draw in Maseru seven days later.
In the next round, São Tomé only narrowly lost 4-5 on aggregate to Sierra Leone and in the following years, they continued to show promise with impressive wins at home to Ethiopia and Libya but poor away results prevented them from advancing again.
On October 9, 2019, São Tomé defeated Mauritius 1–3 away from home in the first leg of their preliminary round tie AFCON 2021 — their first away win in a competitive match ever.
Four days later, São Tomé won 2–1 at home to advance 5–2 on aggregate and enter group stages alongside Ghana, South Africa and Sudan, in which they finished bottom with no points.
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During the AFCON 2023 qualifiers, they faced Mauritius winning the first leg 1–0 before drawing the second leg 3–3 to advance to the group stages — but CAF sanctioned São Tomé for their first leg victory as they hadn’t followed CoVID-19 protocol, giving Mauritius a 3–0 victory and eliminating São Tomé from the competition.
São Tomé appealed the decision and following an initial unsuccessful ruling, they were reinstated by CAF a week before the first qualifying group game.
The 23rd edition of the FIFA World Cup tournament is through a complex qualification as the final — to be hosted jointly by the United States of America, Mexico and Canada — will have 48 participating countries instead of the conventional 32 giving an advantage for Africa to field more teams.
The top team from each group after Match Day 10 shall earn an automatic qualification for the 2026 World Cup finals and additionally, the four best second-placed teams from all nine groups will engage in a continental playoff, determining a single victor who will then proceed to a second and final playoff.
This final stage will comprise six teams from various confederations, with the top two emerging as qualified participants, ultimately making up the 48 competing teams.—Info on São Tomé from Wikipedia
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