FAM technical body begins reforms

Football Association of Malawi (FAM) technical subcommittee has started implementing reforms, including increasing members of national teams’ technical panels.

However, the subcommittees’ recommendations to employ a football director and quality controller await further consultations.

FAM technical subcommittee chairperson Tiya Somba-Banda confirmed the changes which he described as ‘technical master plan reforms’.

“We are just looking at the whole technical value chain,” he said. “From football development, to the national teams.”

In the new set-up, the national teams technical panels will be bloated to accommodate seven members—head coach, two assistant coaches, goalkeeper coach, team manager, fitness trainer and physiotherapist.

Somba-Banda, who is also Super League of Malawi president and FAM executive committee member, said this would apply to all national teams, including Under-20 men’s and women’s, Under-17 women’s and senior women’s teams.

 “It is the standard across the national teams.  A standard training session requires different sets of sessions; hence, the need for a couple of assistants,” he said.

FAM general secretary Alfred Gunda said the reforms would ensure that players are exposed to modern training sessions from junior to the senior national team.

He said: “What we are saying is that from the time a young player starts playing in the Under-17 national team he should be able to understand what physiotherapy is all about. He should  know what fitness training is all about so that when he reaches the senior level, these things should not be strange to him or her.”