The Football Association of Malawi (FAM) over the weekend successfully launched the FIFA Women’s Football Campaign (WFC) in the Central and Northern regions.
The campaign is aimed at increasing the number of women and girls playing football around the world by promoting the game, creating awareness and empowering girls through football in a friendly and safe environment.
The campaign was officially launched at Civo Stadium on Saturday before a similar launch was conducted at Mzuzu Stadium on Sunday.
A total of sixty girls from six teams took part in the in the campaign at each center.
In Lilongwe; Ascent Academy FC, Hungry Lions FC, Mpira M’mudzi Mwathu, TC11, Kamuzu Institute FC and Chilinde Queens FC were the participants where Ascent Academy defeated TC11 Academy 3-2 in the final while in Mzuzu, Mk Academy, Gafu Sisters, Bico Optical FC, Hard knockers FC, Topik Sisters and Geisha Academy were the participating team. Topik Academy were the winners after a 3-2 win over Bico Opticals FC.
Speaking after the l official launch in Lilongwe National Women’s Football Association Chairperson Adelaide Migogo said the campaign will help increase the number of girls playing football thereby producing more future stars.
“We aim at having more girls in the game who will be participating in our girls Leagues which will be introduced soon and once they start playing at this age, we are hopefully going to have a very strong national team in the future and even have more foreign based players. The leagues will also help us to have a clear player development pathway for our women football players.
“The Ambassadors we have brought here have also motivated the girls to work hard in both school and football taking an example of how they have progressed in their career and we hope the girls will take good use of the advice given by the ambassadors”, said Migogo.
Migogo urged the participating teams to continue nurturing talent and monitoring the players so that more talent is exposed.
FAM Exco member Chimango Munthali said the FIFA women’s football campaign is the activator that will help to develop the sport from the grassroots.
“We have been running elite women’s league but now FAM has looked at it and say let’s start it from the basics by going down and have saturated football development program hence this is an activator of the under 14 league girls which is starting in few weeks’ time”.
“The campaign is happening in the cities as there are already existing structures for elite football but FAM will also reach out to all corners of the country “, said Munthali.
In her remarks, former Scorchers player Linda Kasenda who is one of the Campaign’s ambassadors alongside Asimenye Simwaka hailed FAM for the initiative saying this will play a great role in nurturing the hidden talents.
“The girls are showcasing good talent here hence let me urge the authorities to keep on bringing such initiatives. I would wish if we had leagues ranging from ages 14-20 and that sponsors come in to support these leagues so that the sport can grow in the country. I would personally like to encourage the girls to continue working hard so that we produce other Tabithas and Temwas”, said Kasenda.
On Saturday10th June 2023 the Campaign will be launched at Mpira Village in Blantyre.
