K10m for Mayor’s Under-14 league
The Lilongwe City Council has announced a budget of K10 million for the running of the Mayor’s Trophy. The trophy will be launched on Saturday at Civo Stadium.
Deputy Mayor Kwame Bandawe said the re-introduction of the trophy seeks to assist in the development of football in the city.
“Now that councillors and mayors are back, we thought it is important to revive the tournament. We have a budget for K10 million for the running of the tournament. But we need more assistance from the private sector and other well-wishers to make it more rewarding,” said Bandawe.
The Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has welcomed the re-introduction of the Mayor’s Trophy and has since announced that together with the Ministry of Education they have raised K7 million to cater for the tournament in all cities nationwide.
“As FAM, we sponsor grass roots football with funding from Fifa. According to Fifa, the definition of grass roots football is from the age of seven to 12. We observed that there is a gap, because upon graduation from Under -12 leagues there is no tournament for the under-14. To close the gap, we initiated talks with city councils in the country on the need to introduce the trophy. We are glad that everything has been set,” said FAM executive member James Mwenda, who is the deskman for FAM on this project.
