Africa-Press – Malawi. Football Association of Malawi (Fam) President Walter Nyamilandu says the Fifa-funded Talent Development Scheme (TDS) will help groom national football team players.
Nyamilandu, speaking during the launch of the scheme at Mpira Stadium in Chiwembe Township, Blantyre, said the scheme will help supply quality players to the national football team.
“For a long time, we have failed to produce enough complete players for both the national team and export to top leagues abroad because we lacked players that have various attributes such as good physique, height and skills,” he said.
He said through the scheme, Fam will groom players with good attributes for both the national team and overseas leagues market. Fifa Chief of Global Football Development and former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger introduced TDS to harmonise football development across the 211 member associations of the world football governing body.
Malawi is the first beneficiary in Africa, having received $50,000 (about K51 million) from Fifa to roll out the project on a pilot basis. The pilot phase of the scheme has started in the Southern Region where 10 districts contributed to the 27-player squad aged 15 and 20.
According to the arrangement, the scheme will be introduced in Central and Northern regions from next year. Fam also disclosed that the selected players would be required to undergo five-day camping every month to hone their skills through individual and team training.
They will also be playing friendlies on the final day of each camp. Speaking on behalf of fellow developmental coaches, Joy Khakona said the initiative will identify and nurture players with the right attributes.
“It is good that we will be coming with the players to undergo training to understand philosophy,” he said.
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