The Football Association of Malawi (FAM) says the Malawi National Football team will not be engaged in international friendly matches during the October FIFA International break due to lack of funding and tight local football calendar.
The Flames are expected to start preparing for the final Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against Guinea which will be played next month.
After the match against Guinea, the next international break is in October but the Flames will not be in action due to lack of funding.
On Saturday during FAM 2nd Executive Committee meeting which was held at Sunbird Nkopola in Mangochi, the committee resolved to have the local football calendar extended to the last day of this year because the semi-final fixtures in the FDH Bank Cup will be affected and moved to another date due to a two-week Flames camping in Lilongwe.
“The Executive Committee directed the Competitions Committee to revise the Football calendar accordingly following the decision on the changes to the local fixtures as a result of the Flames camping programme for the Guinea match.
“The season which was initially expected to end on 23rd December 2023 will now end on 31st December 2023,” reads part of the statement released by FAM’s communications department.
As a result of these changes, FAM has also moved the FDH Bank Cup semis slated for the weekend of 2nd and 3rd September 2023 to 16th and 17th September 2023.
“In order to give the National Team ample time for the preparations, The Executive resolved to shift the FDH Bank Cup semifinals from 2 and 3 September 2023 to 16 and 17 September 2023 as players will not be released for local competitions fixtures during the two-week period,” continued the presser.
Meanwhile, FAM has revised fines on player tapping from MK500 000 to MK2 million for a professional player in the Super League.
The fine for an amateur with a contract in the Super League has been raised from Mk250 000 to MK1 million, for Women’s Regional League to MK1 million, for an amateur with contract in case of Regional Leagues and below from MK50 000 to MK 200 000 and for all Women’s Football to MK25 000.
The committee has also introduced training compensations for Super League clubs under category one to MK 2, 200, 000, with Regional Leagues under category two pegged at MK1, 100, 000, Youth (Under-19) and Women’s under category three at MK550, 000 while Under 17 and below to age 12 has been put at MK250, 000.
FAM has also urged the Player Status committee to sensitize all stakeholders on Regulations on Status and Transfer of Players.
“The Executive also noted knowledge gap on players transfer matters and guided that FAM should come up with a sensitization programme for all stakeholders on Regulations on Status and Transfer of Players,” reads the statement.