No Cosafa Cup this year, Flames dealt a blow

The Flames will miss yet another chance to expose local talent on the international stage as Cosafa has cancelled this year’s tournament because South Africa, which was earmarked as an alternative venue, has declined to host the event.

According to a press statement from the Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa), it had formally sought the approval of South Africa Football Association (Safa) for the tournament to be staged in their territory at no cost to the host association.

“But as we have failed to receive the requisite permission from Safa, we have been forced to cancel the event,” reads part of the press release signed by Cosafa chief operations officer Sue Destombes.

The statement says Safa cited the non-availability of dates between November and December from its affiliate Premier Soccer League (PSL) as the reason for turning down the request to host the event.

“It comes as a huge disappointment to the region as the commercial sponsor was in place for the 2014, 2016 and 2018 events, but their [sponsor’s] participation was contingent on the tournament being played in South Africa due to existing high standard of playing and broadcasting infrastructure in that country,” the statement further reads.

Football Association of Malawi (FAM) president Walter Nyamilandu and former Flames captain Peter Mponda described the development as a big blow because the tournament is used as a platform to expose upcoming local talent.

“It makes life difficult because we were looking forward to using the Cosafa tournament to expose more local players having missed out of the previous edition of the Chan (Championship of African Nations,” said the FAM president who is also an executive member of Cosafa.

Asked if the development means considering participation in the Cecafa tournament, Nyamilandu said the Flames participation is not guaranteed as it is done by invitation.

“We could apply to be considered but the determination of choosing guest participants lies in the hands of the Cecafa executive and it is not in our hands unlike Cosafa to which we are a member,” he said.

The FAM president also said the Cecafa tournament has strings attached in terms of costs whereby sometimes the organisers do not subsidise.

Nevertheless, Nyamilandu said under such circumstances “the best we can do is to use the international friendly matches to the maximum.”

Mponda said the development is a big setback considering that the national team is dominated by local-based players.

“It is a point of concern because our participation in Chan is sporadic while local teams do not take part in continental tournaments,” he said.

Cosafa president Suketu Patel said the tournament plays a crucial role in helping develop national teams of member associations, “and this year would have been of major benefit as they prepare for the 2015 Afcon qualifiers.”

Over the years, the Cosafa Cup has helped expose local players such as Mponda, Esau Kanyenda, Peter Mgangira, Patrick Mabedi, Jones Nkhwazi, Robert Ng’ambi, Joseph Kamwendo, Fischer Kondowe, Jimmy Zakazaka, James Sangala, Moses Chavula and McDonald Yobe.

After Zimbabwe withdrew their hosting of this year’s event, Botswana was selected as a replacement, but a short lead time meant no suitable sponsor could be found for the event.