Presidential Cup kick-off still unknown
A cloud of uncertainty still hovers on the K60 million (US$147 420) Presidential Initiative on Sports Football Cup as FAM is yet to set another tentative kick-off date.
Initially, Football Association of Malawi (FAM) set March 1 as the kick-off date, but it was forced to shelve the start of the tournament after government said it would not top up the K22 million (US$54 054) that was diverted towards the cost of the Flames 2014 decisive World Cup qualifier against Nigeria’s Super Eagles in September last year.
Government, through the Malawi National Council of Sports, then asked FAM to come up with a revised format to suit the available resources.
FAM chief executive officer Suzgo Nyirenda yesterday said they have revised a format which will be presented to Sports Council today for its determination.
FAM president Walter Nyamilandu last week said their proposal is that the competition should not involve the district phase due to limited resources and, instead, should start at regional, then national level.
However, a Blantyre-based soccer follower, Kelvin Chifunda, argued that doing so would be defeating the aim of the tournament which is to identify and develop talent from the grass roots.
