Football Association of Malawi (Fam) President Fleetwood Haiya has described his first year of office success.
Haiya made the remarks during a cocktail event held under the theme’’Reflecting 365 Days of Transformation Agenda’’ at Bingu International Convention Centre on Friday night.
The event was organised to reflect on his 365 days as Fam president. Haiya said his administration registered many success stories in the first year.
Among other achievements, Haiya said his administration within one year managed to win the trust of the corporate world which resulted in increased football sponsorships.
For instance, Airtel Malawi increased the Airtel Top 8 sponsorship by 188 percent to K688million from K243 million for three years.
On top of that, the 2024 Castel Challenge Cup sponsorship was hiked to K400million from K320 million, FDH Bank Cup was raised to K150 million from K120 million and for the first time TNM Super League sponsorship was sponsored to the tune of K500 million from K150 million.
Haiya’s administration also secured 3-year sponsorship worth K1 billion from NBS Bank for National Division League which will kick off next year.
Within one year of Haiya’s administration, Fam launched their first ever 10-year strategic plan spanning from 2024 to 2034.
Haiya also opened the much-touted Luwinga Inclusive Academy in Mzuzu as part of export strategy. Haiya rejuvenated youth football by investing into schools and youth football, beach Beach Soccer national team earned back-to-back AFCON finals qualification as well as to a bronze medal at Cosafa Beach Soccer Championship. His administration also restructured Flames technical panel as Kalisto Pasuwa was appointed interim coach for the matches against Burundi and Burkina Faso.
The Flames registered a 3-0 win over Burkina Faso and a goal-less draw against Burundi.
But Haiya described the year as a mixed bag. ’’To sum it up, 2024 has been a year of mixed bag. We managed to click the milestones we did put as we entered the office. Al most each and every milestone we have clicked.
’’We have not done well on the Flames especially on the first games in the Afcon qualifiers. When we changed the technical panel we saw positive results.
’’I believe we have taken a good path, as we are going into 2025, I believe is going to be something else that is going to help us to realise our dream of transforming the game,’’ said Haiya.
Other achievements in 2024 include hosting of the Caf Women Champions / Cosafa Qualifier and the Four Nations Tournament.
Minister of Youth and Sports Uchizi Mkandawire said Haiya’s administration has started on a good note.
’’The new Fam leadership has started well to say the least. I think everyone can agree that there is some much that they have managed to accomplish. The commissioning of the Luwinga Inclusive Academy is one of the key highlights,’’ said Mkandawire.
Meanwhile, Haiya unveiled ambitious projects his administration will undertake in the upcoming year.
He said his main focus next year will be on six key area namely strategic partnership, governance, technical, infrastructure, competitions, commercial and marketing.
On strategic partnership, among other things, Haiya will formalise Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with other Football Associations (FA) and also secure direct national teams funding from Parliament.
Fam is planning to complete Nsanje Stadium and rehabilitate Chilomoni and Mpira Stadiums. Among others, Fam will embark of football calendar switch, host first ever Fam awards and review Mpira TV set up targeting 133 % revenue increase.
