Category: Sports

The Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Wildlife has announced that Malawi has reached an agreement with C.D Leganes (Club Deportivo), a Spanish Football Club, to join the club’s rotating “main sponsor” strategy, which allows companies from different sectors to have the opportunity to associate themselves with the club and enjoy the notoriety that comes with being a “main sponsor”.

According to the ministry’s Principal Secretary, Chauncy Simwaka, the logo of “Malawi, The Warm Heart of Africa” will be displayed on the front of the first team kits during the next matches, as well as in different media, both physical and digital. With this agreement, Malawi seeks to continue with its strategy of expanding brand awareness.

“The President of the Club, Mr. Jeff Luhnow, met last September with The State President of the Republic of Malawi, Dr. Lazarus MacCathy Chakwera, to begin to strengthen ties and begin the search for opportunities and talent in football,” he said in a statement released Friday.

Simwaka said “Malawi, the warm heart of Africa” will begin to appear on the team’s shirts this Sunday (14:00) in the match of the 24th matchday against Levante UD at the Estadio Municipal Butarque.

“This is a gracious offer for the brand as it comes at No Cost to the Ministry and Malawi as a Country is proud to be associated with C.D Leganes and we believe that this exposure will not only be able to reach Spanish consumers and the team’s fan base but also all football fans by depicting Malawi as a tourism destination,” he said

For Luhnow, “in Malawi, as in almost all of Africa, there is great soccer potential, and with this agreement we go one step further. We want to take advantage of this opportunity to be able to reach a large part of the country’s young population and to be able to start developing different Actions”.

The new ‘main sponsor’ will begin to appear on the team’s shirts this Sunday (2:00 p.m.) in the match of the twenty-fourth day against Levante UD. at the Butarque Municipal Stadium

Cooldrop water has sponsored Golfer Paul Chidale with K3.6 Million towards his participation at four tournaments taking part in Kenya.

The tournaments are being used as qualifiers for the Kenya open in March this year.

Cooldrop water is manufactured by Zamm Investments Company.

The company’s Manager, Zacharia Nyirenda said said they decided to sponsor Chidale’s trip as part of Corporate Social responsibility.

‘’We are a winning brand and we are always associated with winning and Paul is a champion here in Malawi and as a winning brand we decided to partner with Paul. We hope he brings home the desired results,’’ said Nyirenda.

He said the sponsorship package caters for Chidale’s Air travel, accommodations as well his dressing throughout his 22 day stay in Kenya.

Chidale said he was excited with the gesture from Cooldrop.

‘’I won’t disappoint. This donation will motivate me to do more. Honestly, I didn’t expect this donation so trust me I will strive to at least finish among the top 3 so that I qualify for the Kenya open this March,” he said

Chidale is among very few professional golfers that Malawi has produced of late and he has competed at several international tournaments.

Extreme FC were awarded three points on Wednesday in the Chipiku Premier Division League after Support Battalion FC arrived late at the venue, Aubrey Dimba Stadium in Mchinji.

According to Support Battalion Team Manager Mavuto M’bwana, they had a breakdown on their way to the boarder district hence to late arrival.

He said despite communicating with officials that they will arrive late due to the breakdow, they were told to return without playing as the points were donated to the home side.

As per rules, Extreme also benefited two goals, handing them advantage to lead the log table with five points.

The Wednesday’s incident has exposed challenges in the K14.5million Chipiku Premier Division League.

Deliberate disregard of fixtures
It has been revealed that teams in the league deliberately disregard fixture arrangements of the organizers.

There are mixed reactions on the issue, whether the tendency constitutes match fixing or if indeed, it is because of problems beyond one’s control.

For example, Extreme FC, Luanar FC coach Millias Jegwe Pofera questioned the rationale of awarding points and goals to Extreme FC because the other team came late when in the past, they been playing such games.

He cited examples of their games against Support Battalion and Mbabzi United which started 16:06 and 16:05 respectively instead of 14:30.

Mabvuto Bwana concurred with Jegwe saying their games against Ngwanje and Wimbe started two hours late due to the similar reasons.

This clearly shows that teams takes rules set by the organizers for granted which is unacceptable in a professional League to miss kick-off time without concrete reasons.

Secrecy
Some quarters have opined that there is a veil of secrecy coupled with poor communication between officials assigned to handle games and the executive committee of the league.

Match day officials have been hiding this for a while without reporting to the Association to act on teams that have been defying their orders.

Limited time
Looking at the kickoff time of a number of games as per Jegwe and M’bwana’s remarks, an immediate conclusion is the game have been played played for a little time.

If the games starts at after 4pm expect it to be finalized around 6pm which is impossible with the venues used in Chipiku League where there’s no floodlights. The time is definitely trimmed to less than 90 minutes of play which is not enough to give true reflection of the results.

Extreme winless run continued with a 0-0 draw against Silver Strikers Reserve on Saturday in K15.5million Chipiku Premier Division League.

The League leaders are now winless in three consecutive matches and hands closest contender Luanar FC an opportunity to reduce the gap to just a single point.

Extreme who opened a seven point gap after winning their first three matches of the round of six teams has seen the gap being reduced to four points after collecting two points in their last three matches.

The Joseph Malizani side lost to Wimbe United followed by a draw at Luanar FC before another draw today.

After the match Malizani admitted that it wasn’t an easy match.

“It was a must win game according to our plan but we failed to accomplish but I accepted the results. I didn’t expect my team to play two back to back draws but it always difficult when we are facing Silver Strikers Reserve, when we return we will work on our weaknesses so that we return to our winning ways” said Malizani

Macdonald Yobe for Silver Strikers Reserve was not satisfied with the performances of his forwards.

“It was a good game only that we failed to create good chances and our striking force looks a bit slow but we will work on those areas and try to win up coming games” said Yobe

With today’s result, Extreme FC remains top with 11 points from six games, four behind second placed Luanar FC who have a game in hand.

Silver Strikers Reserve have displaced Mbabzi United on fourth as they have six points from six games.

The Young Bankers are tied with Wimbe United on six points, but Wimbe United with a game less stays above on third due to their superior goal difference.

The bottom two places are occupied with Mbabzi United and Support Battalion who have five points each from five games.

Nyasa Big Bullets striker Hassan Kajoke has joined Silver Strikers Football Club, the Lilongwe based outfit has confirmed.

Kajoke is among four players who have been signed by the team while seven others are on their way out of the Club.

The other new arrivals are Gift Chunga from Ekwendeni Hammers and TN Stars striker China Chirwa.

The Bankers have also brought in the services of Ekwendeni Hammers centre-back Emmanuel Kaunga.

On the part of departure, the Bankers have parted ways with midfielders Frank Banda and Levison Maganizo. The team has also released Mike Robert and Misheck Malaicha.

The statement further said the club is also having discussions on mutual separation with that four players namely Taonga Chimodzi, Blessings Tembo, John Chalamanda and Prince Phiri.

Meanwhile, Bankers 2022 season top goalscorer Chawanagwa Kaonga is on the verge of joining Zambian outfit Zanaco where he is undergoing trials.

Extreme FC kept safe their place at the top of K15.5 million Chipiku Premier Division League after a 0-0 draw with Luanar FC at Aubrey Dimba Stadium on Wednesday.

An encounter saw the league leaders, Extreme extend their winless streak to three games in all competitions following two loses against Wimbe United in the League and St. Gabriel Medicals in Nyasa Capital Finance final.

Still, the result edged them four points clear of Luanar who have a game in hand and ensure them top finish as they completed their first round fixtures of six teams.

The Millias Pofera Jegwe’s side will finalize their first round matches with a game against bottom side Mbabzi United, giving them an opportunity to reduce the gap to a single point.

In a post much interview Jegwe was happy for an away point saying: “we missed chances but returning home with a point is something to smile about”.

His counterpart Joseph Malizani believes his frontline didn’t rise to the occasion.

“We created chances but we failed to score due to inability of our forwards to attack,” said Malizani

Meanwhile, Support Battalion completed their round one games with a 1-0 win over Silver Strikers Reserve.

Jossab Mbewe’s goal was enough to hand Support Battalion their first win of the round of six team at MAFCO ground in Salima.

The two sides are tied at five points but Silver Strikers Reserve stays above on fourth due to their superior go difference while Support Battalion displaced Mbabvi United on fifth.

By Thandiwe Moyo:

Mchinji District Council (DC) has assured citizens that construction of Mchinji stadium was set to commence before March, 2023.

The assurance comes after concerned citizens marched to Mchinji DC offices to express their grievances overdelays in construction of the stadium

Director of Public Works for the Council, Elias Tembo said there were a number of factors that contributed to the project’s delay.

“We advertised and many contractors showed interest. This means that there were a lot of documents to evaluate to make sure we partnered with the right contractors and all this could not have been done in a short period,” he explained.

Tembo assured the people that all procedures were followed such that the procurement committee met and discussed.

The Director indicated they are now waiting for an approval from the World Bank so that contractors could begin their work.

Speaking on behalf of the concerned citizens, Businessman, James Chidza expressed concern that the project has been on the cards for a long time but so far nothing has been done.

“We were told that the stadium construction project would commence in July last year which was later shifted to October and then again movedto December. We waited but nothing has been done yet. That is why we wanted to find out what is causing the delays,” he said.

Chidza said that the concerned group would hold their peace during the period they have been promised to see the construction of the stadium kickoff, failing which they would consider other undisclosed options.

Mchinji Stadium project was allocated about K43 million which will be used in the construction of toilets, changing rooms, a fence and a borehole among other things.

A renowned sports analyst has questioned China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) for the substandard work at the newly built Kamuzu Institute for Sports Aquatic Centre in Lilongwe after video footage has gone viral on social media showing huge cracks and land sinking on the surface and terraces of the newly built Sports facility.

The facility which was for the Region 5 Youth Games last month costed the government of Malawi a whooping K9.4 billion.

The facility started showing poor conditions during the tournament when the division platforms were seen peeling off forcing organisers to temporarily suspend games to carry out maintenance works.

But after heavy rains for the past weeks in Lilongwe the interlocking bricks have disintegrated causing big cracks on the surface and in stands.

In his reaction, sports analyst Charles Nyirenda believes the contractor made a mistake of using the interlocking bricks on the surface instead of solid slabs.

Nyirenda further cited examples of newly built facilities which are also in the same scenario as the Aquatic center.

“The interlocking bricks have been a tragedy in most of the world done so far. We have examples of Kameza roundabout and Area 18 Interchange where the pavement disintegrated because of interlocking bricks so if the solid slabs were used this could have been avoided” said Nyirenda

On the way forward, Nyirenda has asked a serous review of the project to makesure resources are not wasted for nothing.

“If the work is still in progress let government speak with the contractor to rectify on any defects encountered so far but if they completed the construction, I think there’s always defect period of six or 12 months where the contractor retains liability under a construction contract for dealing with any defects that manifest themselves so I hope Government will put this into consideration” he said

CCECC project manager Jerry Jing said the property was not completed and used temporarily for the games.

“These blocks were temporarily used during the games, the plan was that we will redo the pavement after the games. We also need to add the drainages which means we still need to excavate these areas.

“As the contractor, we assure you that the project will be of high quality once it’s finished. We will not handover a project which is substandard to Malawians,” he said.