Wait gets longer

Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has conceded that even if government approves its proposal to restart football, they would need a minimum of two months to put things in place.

FAM suspended football in March this year in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The local football governing body’s president Walter Nyamilandu yesterday said: “As a guideline, we will need at least a minimum of two months to start up the season [upon being given the go ahead], taking into account pre-season training and test matches for the players to gain fitness before competitive matches can resume.”

He said they would have to revise the football calendar and schedule of activities accordingly to ensure thorough preparations for all stakeholders.

“As it stands, we are behind schedule; hence, August is a nonstarter. This means that there will be need to shift the dates depending on when the green light will be issued.”

“It is technically recommended that when players are returning from off-season, they must be subjected to intense training of about four to six weeks before they can be exposed to the rigours of competitive football matches and in our case, this cannot be compromised because of the long lay-off.

“It will, therefore, be important to ensure that players are physically fit before being thrown into the deep end,” said the FAM president.

Nyamilandu’s sentiments mean that even if government would approve FAM’s proposal, football could resume in September or October.

On whether they have made a follow-up with government on their proposal, Nyamilandu said: “It is still in the hands of the authorities and we are waiting patiently for their directive.

“Once they advise us at the most appropriate time, we will take necessary action to revise our football calendar accordingly.

“At the moment, we are on stand-by and we are closely following developments of Covid-19 locally and internationally.”

The FAM president also said preparations for the season are still ongoing behind the scenes “and we are confident that our blueprint on how to restart football safely, will pass the test”.

Newly-appointed Minister of Youth and Sports Ulemu Msungama said he is still consulting on the matter.

“It is an issue that required wide consultation before my intervention,” he said.

Fifa and CAF fitness trainer Ephrainm Mzengo also said players and referees will need not less than six weeks of intense training to regain match fitness.

In an interview yesterday, Mzengo said: “They have been inactive for about seven months [Since December last year] which is a long time.

“Normally, even when an athlete is at the peak of his or her fitness levels and stops for two to three weeks, it’s easy to lose fitness levels, so how about seven months? It would be a high risk for injuries.

“They would also risk suffering cardiac arrest because we also consider their aerobic capacity.

“For instance, when the Germany Bundesliga resumed, we [as Fifa] did a research and established that  there were a number of injury and cardiac arrest cases.

“It was because they assumed that the players and match officials were in good shape when they were not. So, extra caution needs to be taken on that.”