Civo Stadium snubbed from hosting international games
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has struck off Civo Stadium from the list of stadia eligible to host international matches due to its poor condition.
Last year, Civo Stadium was among the three stadia recommended for hosting international matches alongside Kamuzu and Bingu National stadiums.
The association’s licensing and compliance manager Casper Jangale, who is also responsible for facilities, yesterday said Civo is not among the three venues recommended to Confederation of African Football (CAF) for inspection.
He said: “The three that have been recommended are Kamuzu and Mpira stadia in Blantyre as well as Bingu National Sports Stadium in Lilongwe.
“There are some areas that need urgent attention at Civo, including poor ablution facilities. The sanitation, in particular at the open stands is poor. As such, it could not be considered.”
Jangale also said another crucial requirement is bucket seats which giant stadia such as Civo and Kamuzu do not have.
“It is only Bingu and Mpira stadiums that have bucket seats, but we’ll leave that to CAF to decide,” he said.
However, Civil Service (Civo) United general secretary Ronald Chiwaula said they asked to be exempted because they could not meet the deadline set by FAM.
“The biggest challenge that we have had is vandalism and theft whenever we fix the toilets.
“But renovations are underway and once we are through, we will ask our sponsors to reinforce security,” he said.
Jangale said they expect CAF to send inspectors soon for the exercise.
Some of the areas which CAF prioritises during inspection are condition of the pitch, turnstiles, bucket seats, changing rooms, doping rooms, first aid rooms, media tribune and ablution facilities.
