Football Association of Malawi has a newly appointed Women’s Football Manager, Blandina Mdebwe who reported for duties on Monday, 3rd July 2023.
This is the first time that the association has appointed a manager specific for Women’s Football with the previous post being the Women’s Football Development Officer .
A holder of a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Sports and Leisure Studies Major in Sports and Recreation Management from the University of Pretoria, Mdebwe intends to grow Women’s football in the country by among other things selling it to the corporate World.
Currently, Women’s football in the country is solely sponsored by FAM from competitions to capacity building programmes.
Mdebwe says she has passion for football and believes this will motivate her to deliver in her position.
“I have always had passion for football and sports in general ever since I was young. In other countries; European countries, sports including women’s football is a multi-billion-dollar industry. I believe that there is a lot of potential for women’s football in Malawi. As a nation, we can leverage on that energy to develop the game to see more girls playing football and reaching Tabitha Chawinga’s level.
“Much as we have made significant strides in promoting the game, there is still room for improvement. I intend to package Malawi women’s football into a recognizable brand to attract corporate sponsors and put our nation on the map. With the reintroduction of schools football, we would scale up participation from the grassroots and in the process, we shall have good talents and improved performance for our national team”, she added.
She has worked as a volunteer for AmaTuks under the University of Pretoria Sports Marketing Team for close to two years. Until her appointment at FAM, Mdebwe was working as a Sports Officer in the Ministry of Youth and Sports .
Among other things, Mdebwe will be responsible for increasing the overall prominence of women’s football; Enhancing the network of women’s football in country and abroad; planning, coordination, monitoring and evaluation of key national women’s football events; assisting in raising funds for women’s football development through writing and submission of funding proposals as well as assisting in the implementation of all programmes pertaining to the female player pathway.
Talking about her area of concentration during her first days in office, she says she will work with the Licensing department to kick start the just introduced Women’s Football Club Licensing and lead the capacity building process for stakeholders.
“Building on the newly introduced club licensing, I intend to lobby for more resources for capacity building for coaches, referees and administrators to enhance professionalism and improve Women’s football and clubs in Malawi”, said Mdebwe.
