The Football Association of Malawi will this weekend hold a two-day Stewards Trainer of Trainers workshop aimed at creating a pool of local trainers who are expected to be conducting stewardship trainings across the country.
The workshop, which will be held at the Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe on Friday and Saturday, will be facilitated by FIFA and CAF Safety and Security expert Dixon Okello from Uganda.
FAM Competitions and Communications Director Gomezgani Zakazaka said the association would like to enhance safety and security which is a key element in the successful delivery of football matches and competitions in the country.
“It’s been over 20 years since an expert came to drill our stewards in the country . Over the years we have recruited a lot of stewards without proper orientation or training due to lack of expertise.
“We have organised this workshop to train trainers who will be equipped with modern trends and necessary knowledge and skill to effectively manage safety and security in Malawi football ,” said Zakazaka.
The workshop will be participated by Stewards supervisors from all the stadiums that host elite football and the 16 Super League clubs security officers.
“Our objective is that each Super League club should have its own Stewards to handle security matters during their home matches. It is expected that after the workshop the Security Officers will lead the process of recruiting and training of their respective clubs’ stewards,” he said.
Among others, the workshop will focus on stewardship, emergency response procedures and crowd control techniques.
Okkello is a Certified FIFA and CAF Security and Safety officer, who has a proven track record of safeguarding football players, Officials, Sports fans at major sports events.
He was recently voted CAF best Safety and Security officer and is Federation of Uganda football Association security officer.
He was a steward at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South and has been Safety and Security Officer at CAF tournaments like the AFCON 2022 Cameroon, CAF Confederation Cup final Nigeria 2022, AFCON U-20 Niger 2019 and AFCON 2019 Egypt.
He has also served as Security and Safety Officer at FIFA tournaments like the FIFA U-20 Poland 2029, FIFA U-20 Argentina 2023 and FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2021.
