FAM asks govt for three coaches
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has asked government to employ two assistant coaches apart from the head coach for the Flames.
This is contained in a request the association has submitted to Malawi National Council of Sports (MNCS).
The council’s executive secretary George Jana yesterday said FAM also wants the assistant coaches to double as coaches for the junior national sides.
“Basically, what they want is that the first assistant coach should also coach the Under-20 team while the second assistant coach should also double as Under-17 coach,” he said.
However, Jana said they are still not satisfied with the proposal which FAM has submitted, saying it is not well detailed.
“They have still not clearly indicated what else the coaches will be doing when the teams are not active.
“We also need to discuss with them to understand how the football philosophy between the coaches will synchronise to become one and how that will permeate into club football. As you are aware, national team players come from clubs and it is, therefore, important that club football is also addressed somehow.
“So, the plan is that we should meet them next week to collectively address that before submitting the proposal to government,” he said.
But the association’s president Walter Nyamilandu last week said they intend to normalise the situation whereby Malawi Government “should take full responsibility of paying the coach whether expatriate or local”.
He said: “It will be necessary to have the coach before the joint 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) and 2022 World Cup qualifiers start in August this year.”
In an interview yesterday Nyamilandu said: “It’s part of the consultation process to ensure that there is input from all key stakeholders . The meeting will be critical to clarify funding sources and what kind of coach (local or expatriate and agree recruitment process.
“It is important that there is buy-in from word go.”
The position of Flames coach fell vacant on April 1 following the expiry of Belgian expatriate Ronny van Geneugden’s (RVG) contract.
RVG was being paid by FAM with funding from Fifa and FAM’s partners.
But his predecessor Ernest Mtawali and his assistant Nsanzurwimo Ramadhan were under government payroll.
