Football Association of Malawi (FAM) Technical Director Benjamin Kumwenda has been conferred the FIFA Leadership in Action award after successfully completing a FIFA Technical Leadership Diploma.

Kumwenda was among the first 35 Technical Directors selected from the 211 FIFA Member Associations who participated in the first cohort of the programme.

The 18 months course which FIFA introduced last year is aimed at developing technical leaders across its MAs for them to address technical issues in their associations.

The course involved both virtual and physical classes and started in May last year.

“I am glad to have successfully completed the programme and it was an honour to be part of in the first cohort . It was an eye opener on the ever evolving expertise in technical matters which will help us transform the game in Malawi, ” said Kumwenda.

Out of the 35 participants in the first Cohort, seven were from African countries namely Malawi, Zambia, South Africa, Namibia, Lesotho, Uganda and Egypt.

Twenty four technical directors have completed program which was done in four blocks taking the candidates to Brazil, Japan, Netherlands and Switzerland as part of their induction.