Chihana made the call on Saturday when he launched the 44th edition of the Malawi Schools Sports Association (Massa) Copa Coca-Cola competition at Zomba Community Centre ground.
He said through such sponsorships, a lot of talent can be identified.
Said Chihana: “I would like to commend what Carlsberg Malawi Limited is doing by sponsoring the Copa Coca-Cola schools tournament. Most of the established players we are seeing today have graduated from the same competition, a thing which cannot be taken for granted.â€
He added that government remains committed to developing sports and such programmes cannot be overlooked.
In his remarks, Massa president Ken Mphande said his association plans to establish schools of excellence in all the six education divisions in the country as one way of developing the game.
“We could be signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) and reach out to the private sector to have similar competitions for primary schools as well,†he said.
FAM chief executive officer Suzgo Nyirenda disclosed that Malawi will soon have an Under-14 football team and the MRI scan will be introduced to curb age-cheating.
Chihana later conducted a draw for the national schools championship whose results were as follows: Group A: South East Education Division (Seed), Central East Education Division (Ceed) and Shire Highlands Education Division (Shed) whereas Group B has Central West Education Division (Cwed), South West Education Division (Swed) and Northern Education Division (Ned).
In a thrilling football match on the launch, Zomba Catholic Secondary School beat Malindi Secondary School 1-0 through a first-half strike by Macben Mukasho. Zomba Catholic Secondary School brass band was among those that provided entertainment to the gathering.
