Football Association of Malawi in conjunction with FIFA will from today conduct a five-day Beach Soccer Elite Referees course in Salima.

The course has brought together 30 Referees from all the five Beach Soccer Centers including, Mangochi, Nkhotakota, Chilumba, Chintheche and Karonga.

Ugandan Beach Soccer Instructor Ali Mwebe will facilitate the course alongside  Malawi Referees Fitness Instructor Moffat Champiti and Beach Soccer Technical Instructor Sam Mangasanja.

This is a second FIFA beach soccer refereeing course to be held in the country. The first one was held in  January 2017 and was facilitated by Italian Michele Conti.

FAM Referees Development Officer Fredrick Kholopa said the course will improve Beach Soccer officiating standards in the country as most referees were officiating without proper training.

“We have a total of 64 Beach Soccer Referees in Malawi and having the 30 at the course is high level because most of them were officiating without being updated on the current Beach Soccer Laws of the Game.

“We expect that by the end of the five days, the referees will increase their knowledge, skills and competencies in officiating the games and I am sure that after this course, teams will get better services from them. In this way our referees especially those on FIFA list will be able to compete with others internationally.

“This course will also improve local competitions because the referees will give out their best during the games,” said Kholopa.

During the course, the referees are expected to learn laws of the game, analyse video clips, referees signals, the four-count rule as well as game management techniques.

The referees will also undergo training on positioning and movement during the game and a physical fitness test.

Currently Malawi has two  Beach Soccer referees Mathews Ngwira and Rose Zimba on the FIFA International.