Malawi is among three African countries selected by Fifa for a football academies programme which will also teach students life skills.

A statement issued by the world football governing body yesterday said the other two countries are Mauritania and Djibouti.

Fifa said the trio was picked following successful proposals submitted.

The initiative will boost Football Association of Malawi’s (FAM) ambitious dream to set up a fully-fledged academy which has been failing to take off for the past five years due to lack of funds.

The project, according to Fifa, is expected to roll out this year with logistical meetings set to start next week.

Nyamilandu lays the foundation stone at the Luwinga Technical Centre

Reads the statement in part: “The member associations of Mauritania, Malawi and Djibouti have been selected for a new programme in Africa to set up inclusive football academies that will also teach youngsters how to prepare for life outside the four lines of the pitch.

“The programme, run by Fifa and the Agence Française de Développement [AFD] and implemented by the NGO Play International and the Senegal-based Diambars Institute, is intended to make the most of football’s ability to teach life skills such as commitment and teamwork.”

It says the project aims to prepare academy players to be future citizens, bearing in mind that only a tiny proportion will become professional footballers, and broaden their economic and professional horizons through football, empower them and ensure their employability.

Fifa director responsible for Africa member associations Gelson Fernandes is quoted as having said: “Football can provide a lot of skills that you can take into life such as discipline, passion and commitment. We emphasise to all our member associations that they have a responsibility both to develop football and to give opportunities to kids, women and men within the country.

 “This project brings all these things together. It is a beautiful project that we will finance with the AFD and we hope we can do more in the future.”

The programme is structured around several themes which reflect the positive values Fifa aims to promote and protect such as child welfare, gender equality and education. It is also connected to the Fifa Talent Development Scheme, which aims to help member associations identify and develop young players, and the Fifa guardians programme, which provides a framework to help the 211 member associations prevent any risk of harm to children in football and respond appropriately.

On his part, AFD chief executive officer Remy Roux said: “I’m delighted the reinforcement programme for inclusive sporting academies in Africa, just a few months after it kicked off at the Diambars Institute in Saly, marks a new stage in the partnership between Fifa and the AFD Group.

“This collaboration is testimony to our mutual desire to make football an accelerator of social investment, and continues in the same vein of the initial agreement signed in the presence in 2019.”

In an interview yesterday, FAM president Walter Nyamilandu described the initiative as a game changer for Malawi football.

He said: “We applaud Fifa for pioneering such a project and for according Malawi such a rare privilege. This has enabled our vision of setting up a fully-fledged academy at Luwinga Technical Centre to be a reality.”

Football pundit Kevin Moyo said the project will transform local football.

He said: “North and West Africa have developed tremendously and thumbs up to FAM for pulling off this one.” n

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