PSL team itching for Malawi tour

South Africa Premier Soccer League (PSL) rookies University of Pretoria FC (Amatuks) are itching for pre-season camp training in Malawi this July.

Amatuks official Sibongile Mpakanyiswa confirmed the visit through an e-mail sent to potential hosts, the College of Medicine’s Sports Complex, who have a working relationship with the Pretoria university under which the club falls.

“Please be advised that we are still exploring this opportunity. Unfortunately, the price of flights is extremely expensive and currently, with no sponsor, we cannot afford it, but we are exploring different avenues to raise the money for the team to fly to Malawi.

“Like I said, we would love to get the team come through to Malawi for pre-season training,” Mpakanyiswa wrote to the complex’s manager Gus Banda.

Last week, Banda said the Amatuks’ visit hinged on their ability to find alternative travel arrangements to Malawi.

The South Africa season will be on recess around July while the Malawi league will be in progress.

“All things being equal, they are looking at coming in July to play two friendly games with local teams and also hold training camps and coaching clinics for kids,” Banda said in an exclusive interview.

The complex has an ambitious project of establishing a high-performance centre (HPC) with the expert guidance of the South African university which is rated highly in enhancing sports performance in the world.

Black Leopards were the last South African team to visit Malawi for pre-season in 2008 and eventually signed Harry Nyirenda from the then MTL Wanderers.

Chiukepo Msowoya had unsuccessful trials with Amatuks who are ninth on the 16-member PSL on 33 points. Steve Barker coaches them.