The Football Association of Malawi (FAM) says it has prepared thoroughly to run the FDH Bank Cup professionally.
Jabbar Alide, FAM’s Head of Competitions says the country has been struggling to have more sponsors for competitions and cups.
He said as more sponsors come in, the level of play and competitiveness in football rises.
He has denounced football hooliganism as detrimental to the development of the sport.
“Football has started and violence will not be condoned. Currently, it’s an overstatement to say the matches have been embroidered in violence. There was just a single incidence of violence. That aside, we have prepared well for FDH Bank Cup. We all know some sponsors pulled out for their reasons, but in this competition, we are leaving no stone unturned to ensure all games are well managed. You see, when we have small glitches it dents the whole image of the game. So we are well prepared,” said Alide.
On his part, Kawawa Msapato, Head of Personal and Business Banking at FDH Bank said the main objective of the competition is to develop football from the grassroots level.
“We believe that through this competition raw talent will be identified and we are moulding a platform where talented players from lower divisions would be spotted and make their way to the main league and the national team. We have just seen how our National Team has been performing, we need to develop and spot talented players who would carry on the mission,” said Msapato.
On Sunday, Mighty Wanderers Reserve knocked out Chinamwali 4-2 through post-match penalties.
The cup is worth K90 million and the winner will cart home a cool K25 million. It is expected to run from May to September 2021.