Rough Diamonds await new sub-committees

Football Association of Malawi (FAM) says dates for the second edition of Rough Diamonds Football Tournament will be set once the new FAM sub-committees are put in place to review last year’s inaugural event.

FAM competitions and communications director Gomezgani Zakazaka said this yesterday after being asked what is delaying the event, considering that the inaugural contest was conducted between February 9 and 10 last year.

“There is a delay this year because we are yet to have the sub-committees that will review the inaugural event to determine how the 2020 edition would be conducted. These committees would be put in place within this month,” he said.

FAM introduced the K20 million annual national tournament involving selected players from regional leagues and the First Capital Bank (FCB) Under-20 League as a centralized platform for TNM Super League clubs and national football teams to scout and polish talents that are hard to identify in remote areas.

Southern Region Select won the inaugural event following a 5-2 triumph over Central Region Select in the final at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe.

Southern Region Football Association (SRFA) chairperson Raphael Humba yesterday said they are hopeful that the event would be conducted before the season kicks off.  “Last year, the tournament was beneficial to us as eight players from our league managed to secure deals with top-flight league clubs and a number of players earned call ups in the national teams.”