Football Association of Malawi (Fam) has asked members of Parliament to lobby for increased allocations to national football teams as one way of improving their performance.
Fam President Fleetwood Haiya made the request when he hosted members of the Parliamentary Committee on Social and Community Affairs at Mpira Village, Chiwembe Township, in Blantyre on Tuesday.
Haiya asked committee members to consider having a special line in the national budget for the vote of the Malawi National Council of Sports (MNCS) to address the problem of inadequate funds to national football teams.
“Chances are very high that this can help us plan our activities properly. [As at now], it very hard for us to plan because we do not know how much we will get from Sports Council,’’ Haiya said.
Currently, Fam, just like all sports associations, gets annual subvention from MNCS.
Fam and Netball Association of Malawi (Nam) usually get a lion’s shares.
Haiya said the association had also written Fifa to consider increasing allocations to national teams.
According to Haiya, Fam gets $250,000 for national football team activities per year.
“We believe that with our request, chances are high that Fifa might increase the support,” he said.
Apart from government and Fifa support, Fam gets K250 million annually for the Flames from official sponsors FDH Bank plc.
On his part, chairperson for the Parliamentary Committee on Social and Community Affairs Savel Kafwafwa said the meeting was convened to appreciate challenges that the association faces.
“We have learnt that funding towards national teams has been going down since 2021.
“We are going to engage the Ministry of Youth and Sports and MNCS on how best we can help the association,” Kafwafwa said.
Members of the committee toured Mpira Village on Tuesday.
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