Football Association of Malawi (FAM) is reviewing this year’s calendar to, among other things, accommodate the newly-launched Castel Challenge Cup fixtures and opening 2026 World Cup qualifiers.

In an interview yesterday, FAM competitions and communications director Gomezgani Zakazaka said the current season will also be extended by at least two weeks due to the delay in kick-off as a result of the Flames’ Saudi Arabia camping which led to clubs asking for an extension of pre-season.

He said FAM and the Super League of Malawi (Sulom) met on Saturday to start the process.

Said Zakazaka: “As stated  earlier, the Castel Cup was already factored in because we had already agreed on the deal

“So, when we were drafting the initial calendar, we had space for the tournament, but what we are doing now is to align the fixtures with those of the Super League.

“Similarly, there is already a Fifa calendar [date] in November which will be used for World Cup qualifiers, but what we didn’t have are the actual dates and we will include that in the reviewed calendar.”

Wanderers and Bullets battling it out in the NBS Bank Charity Shield

On the extended period of the season, he said this was expected as previously, the season was scheduled to kick-off on April 1.

“But because of the Flames trip to Saudi Arabia for camping, some clubs negotiated for an extension of the off-season which was granted to give them a bit more time with their players,” said Zakazaka.

He said they expect the revised calendar to be ready by next week.

On his part, Sulom general secretary Williams Banda said as a result of the anticipated crowded calendar, some games will be played mid-week to ensure that there is enough space for both league and cup matches.

He said: “We will follow a pattern that ensures that players have time to recover and that it is cost-effective.”

Mighty Waka Waka Tigers director Robin Alufandika said they hope the changes will not lead to fixture congestion.

“We hope FAM and Sulom will take a firm line and arrange the fixtures in such a way that players have time to recover and not play say three matches within a week,” he said.

In a separate interview, FCB Nyasa Bullets chief administration officer Albert Chigoga said: “Castel Cup came when the football calendar was already out. So, it was expected that the calendar would be reviewed to accommodate the competition.

“More often such changes affect clubs in terms of planning, so we hope the review will be handled properly.”

Initially, the 2023 season was supposed to kick off on April 1 with the NBS Bank Charity Shield followed by the TNM Super League a week later and the season was earmarked to end on December 12

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