Football Association of Malawi (FAM) says time has come for the association to learn from their Zambian counterparts who have this year won all Council of Southern Africa Football Associations (Cosafa) competitions.

The western neighbours have this year triumphed in the senior Cosafa Cup, Cosafa Women’s Cup, Cosafa Under-20 Championship, and Cosafa Women’s Champions League.

The only remaining regional competitions this year are African Union Sports Council’s Region5 Under-17 girls and boys which Malawi will host in December.

In an interview yesterday, FAM general secretary Alfred Gunda said time has come for Malawi to accept that it needs to learn from its neighbours.

He said: “We need to find out how they are running their programmes.  We might be doing the same things, but in a different way and that makes them to be successful.

“We all benefit from the same Fifa programmes. Why are they successful and why are we not? Why are they beating us? Is it the availability of resources? Or, is it the attitude of players? Because football is football everywhere.”

Soccer analyst Charles Nyirenda said Zambia’s unprecedented success should jolt FAM into action.

He said: “Football in Zambia is better organised. And that has been the case for years. As part of social amenities, sports facilities have readily been available to the population, enabling development of players to take place easily.

“The establishment of sound soccer academies such as Chikalamba by former President of Zambia the late Rupiah Banda has enhanced the possibilities of exporting players abroad.

“For over two decades, Zambia has kept producing players for Europe while we are content with calling players to camp to prepare for two weeks prior to international competitions instead of continued player development.”

On his part, FAM president Walter Nyamilandu said Zambia is miles ahead of Malawi due to huge investment in football.

He said: “The investment in the game is huge across all spheres of football by the corporate world.  Club football is well sponsored and all national teams are funded directly by Parliament.

“They don’t struggle to manage players, let alone nurture talent. The well-being of the players is  taken care of. Football is serious business in Zambia. Yes, we can learn a lot as a country.”

The Post of Zambia journalist Darious Kapembwa said there was no secret to the country’s success story other than investing in grassroots football.

He said: “It is down to heavy investment in grassroots football by the Football Association of Zambia [FAZ] in the last four years. The country has an Under-15 national team and the women’s league is being played across the country, coupled with strict age scrutiny to curb age-cheating.

“Also, the vigorous coaches’ training over a period of time has seen a number of youth coaches trained in various capacities to handle different age group teams.”

But Kapembwa said FAZ sources funds for grassroots football since government does not support such programmes.

He said: “FAZ generated resources because the government supports the senior men’s and women’s national teams only. There is no direct budget to grassroots activities.

“The same with Fifa funding which directly goes to specified projects and not grassroots. So, FAZ has to  dip into its coffers with a lot of prudence on their internally generated resources to finance grassroots activities.”

Zambia are ranked 88th on Fifa World Rankings while Malawi are 124th.

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