The Football Association of Malawi will on Saturday launch the long-awaited FAM District Leagues at Chintheche Community ground in Nkhatabay.
The Association’s Competitions and Communications Director Gomezgani Zakazaka said FAM President Walter Nyamilandu Manda will preside over the ceremony that will be held under strict FAM COVID-19 Football re starts guidelines.
Kawiya Eagles and Chichiri FC will play in a ceremonial match to mark the official launch of the Leagues in the Northern Region. Similar events will be held for the Central Region on 31st August in Salima and for the Southern Region on 7th August in Nsanje.
FAM unveiled the K60 million District Leagues in March last year but they did not kickoff due to COVID-19.
According to Zakazaka the Leagues, which will be run by District Football Committees under the supervision of Regional Football Associations, are expected to officially kick off on 31st July 2021 in 29 Football Districts across the country.
“We are set to roll out. Registration of teams is currently underway and by the end of the month we will kick off. We would like to thank the teams for their patience.
“Just like the Regional Leagues the District leagues will be played in clusters and each district is expected to register a maximum of 16 teams,” said Zakazaka.
The Leagues are aimed at putting in place systematic football development structures to enable unearthing of talent from the rural areas.
“The Leagues will fulfil our desire to Raise the Bar by putting more effort on the Districts and Regional Football which act as feeder leagues to elite football.
“Our Football has struggled to reach its full potential in the past as we spent more time and energy on the Elite Football and ignored the lower end. But that changes as we now put in place a cross cutting agenda of bottom-up in order to develop raw talented players,” he added.
