Africa-Press – Malawi. NO BREAKTHROUGH—Flames in action against NamibiaFootball Association of Malawi (Fam) president Fleetwood Haiya has thrown his weight behind the Malawi National Football Team’s coaching panel.
Haiya was reacting to the team’s poor campaign at the 2025 Hollywoodbets Cosafa Cup, where they exited in the group stage without a win in three matches.
Although he admitted the performance at the Cosafa Cup was unsatisfactory, Haiya said the project is on the right track.
“Based on our Strategic Plan and the trajectory of the Flames’ qualification campaign for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon), I can confidently and emphatically affirm that we are on the right path.
“By the end of this year, we will not just have a team in progress but a well-structured and competitive national team,” he said.
The Fam boss added that the focus is on building a team for the future.
“The remaining work will be focused on fine-tuning and strengthening, not building from scratch. This team, largely composed of our promising young talents, is one we are nation for the next four years and beyond,” Haiya said. grooming to proudly serve the
The Flames finished bottom of Group B with one point from three matches. Malawi lost 1-0 to both Lesotho and Angola and only managed a goalless draw against Namibia.
Following the team’s dismal showing at the Cosafa Cup, pressure is mounting on Flames coach Kalisto Pasuwa and his assistant Peter Mponda.
The pair has won four matches, lost five and drawn two in 11 games across all competitions. However, Mponda believes the team performed well despite the poor results.
“In terms of results, it was not good for us, but in terms of performance, we are very encouraged and we need to build from these games,” Mponda said.
Sports analyst Parry Chinyama said the Cosafa Cup exposed the coaching panel’s shortcomings.
“This is a pathetic performance over the years. The team failed to win a single game. To make matters worse, not even one goal was scored.
“This is not the system we expected the coaching panel to use; one striker and no supply. I do not see the coaching panel retaining their positions,” he said.
Pasuwa made a promising start to his tenure as Flames coach, having guided the team to a goalless draw against Burundi before a historic 3-0 victory over Burkina Faso.
This was followed by back-to-back wins over Comoros (2- 0, 0-2) in the African Nations Championship (Chan) qualifiers. However, the Flames later lost 1-0 and 2-0 to Namibia and Tunisia respectively in the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers.
Malawi also failed to qualify for the Chan finals following a 2-1 aggregate loss to South Africa.
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