Wenger’s Fifa office to review Malawi football

Fifa’s technical department, headed by former Arsenal FC manager Arsene Wenger, will review Malawi football in its pilot study of global football development.

Football Association of Malawi (FAM) president Walter Nyamilandu said he had fruitful discussions with Fifa technical development officials while at the ongoing Qatar Club World Cup.

 “I had fruitful discussion with Fifa Technical Department which Arsene Wenger is heading. I was introduced to him by his team. They will be rolling out the first pilot study in Malawi to introduce an ideal football philosophy after conducting a thorough audit of the landscape,” he said.

Nyamilandu, who has just been re-elected FAM president, said Malawi will benefit a lot from the project.

Asked if the new ‘philosophy’ to be introduced by Wenger and his team will not clash with that introduced by immediate-past Flames coach Ronny Van Geneugden, Nyamilandu said the two would complement each other.

He said: “We need to improve and strengthen our style and standard of play to give us the cutting edge so that we can become a competitive force. It’s all about ‘Raising The Bar’, so we won’t start from scratch, but rather take the game to a new level.

“We need systems and structures to embed this new football philosophy so that all clubs and national teams can play football the same way from bottom to the top. This is the area that is lacking significantly and we need to bridge this gap as we focus on developing football from the grassroots.”

The programme will extend to both coaches and players, according to Nyamilandu.

“Our players are skilled technically, but tactically naive because of not being coached to play football the right way, which is the modern continental football.

“Our coaches are still playing old-fashioned football yet the game has moved on and it is more than science or a game of chess. I am working on that as part of the manifesto,” he said.

Nyamilandu also said he is exploring opportunities for overseas partnerships for local coaches to regularly attend Uefa ‘A’ and Uefa ‘B’ coaching courses.

Wenger, 70, was last month appointed chief of global football development to spearhead Fifa’s programmes throughout the world for the men’s and women’s game, including its coaching, training and coaches’ education in the world and Malawi will be its first project.

His department will be involved in football elements of Fifa’s development projects through its Forward programme, under which $6 million has been allocated to each association.

Upon his appointment, Wenger said he wants to contribute his vast knowledge of football to the world.

“I want to share what I have learned and I want to share the knowledge I have of the game I love.

“Maybe one of the best positions to do that is at Fifa. I feel it is a position where I can help football to grow. Hopefully, in quality and in knowledge.

 “Mainly, all over the world I would like to contribute to the efficiency and improvement of coaching,” Wenger was quoted as saying by Fifa website.