Football Association of Malawi president Fleetwood Haiya on Sunday unveiled a K25 million sponsorship for the Northern Region Football Association (NRFA).
The money is part of Haiya’s personal emolument from CAF which he committed to supporting football related activities.
During the unveiling ceremony at the Mpira Village, Haiya said the decision to support NRFA came via a request from Inkosi Mmbelwa V of Mzimba.
As such the league this year will be called Mmbelwa Northern Region Football League.
Said Haiya: “I made a commitment when I became president of the FA to use part of my CAF personal allocation to plough it back into football.
This is what I have been doing by using those funds to support some grassroot programs. I use this money as a stop gap measure.”
The Northern Region which is in fifth week, has been running without sponsorship.
Haiya therefore said he decided to support NRFA at the same time use the sponsorship to honour the work of Inkosi Mmbelwa V in uniting the people of the northern region.
Haiya has accorded NRFA the right to source co sponsors for the league.
In his response Inkosi Mmbelwa V said he was honoured by the gesture from The FA,President
“Personally I am very honoured to see that Mr Haiya has indeed responded positively to our request. We are happy that now we have a sponsorship for the league.
“I’m also honoured to have the league in my name. It shows great humility on the part of the FAM President. He has shown that he is a man of his words but also someone who is not selfish. His efforts to transform Malawi football is paying dividends,” he said.
NRFA Chairperson f Masiya Nyasulu was elated by the news of the sponsorship.
Said Nyasulu: “We are very happy that finally we have secured sponsorship. This is a very positive step towards ensuring that our league is running professionally. We are proud of this gesture and we will ensure that this support benefits the development of football in the northern region.”
Nyasulu promised to use the opportunity to find other sponsors that would complement the sponsorship from the FA president.
