Africa-Press – Malawi. After months of speculation, Malawi Under-20 National Football Team coach Patrick Mabedi and his U-17 counterpart Deklerk Msakakuona are set to get new two-year deals.
This comes at a time Ministry of Youth and Sports is finalising processes for their respective deals. Both Mabedi and Msakakuona had been without contracts for six months after their previous one-year deals expired in October last year.
Ministry of Youth and Sports spokesperson Andrew Nyondo confirmed that the process was at an advanced stage. “We are waiting for approval from high authority. We as a Ministry, did our part but the Office of the will make a final decision on the matter,” Nyondo said. President and Cabinet (OPC)
Football Association of Malawi (Fam) recommended the extension of Mabedi and Msakakuona contracts. However, the ministry had asked the association to provide performance assessment reports to justify the renewal of their respective contracts.
At its executive committee meeting in Mangochi last week, Fam disclosed that it would engage the government to fast-track the process of renewing contracts for the two coaches.
Fam Technical Sub-committee Chairperson Tiya Somba-Banda was not readily available for his comment yesterday. Both Mabedi and Msakakuona travelled with Malawi Under-23 national team to Turkey as Mario Marian Marinica’s assistants.
Mabedi was yet to respond to our questionnaire as we went to press yesterday. Last year, he had no chance to coach U-20 after the Cosafa Youth Championship was postponed due to the Covid pandemic.
During the 2020 Cosafa Cup in South Africa, Mabedi failed to guide the U-20 beyond the group stages after suffering two losses and one win in three matches.
However, he was technical adviser for the Malawi Women’s National Football Team, the Scorchers, during the 2021 Cosafa Cup as Malawi reached their first ever final before losing 1-0 to Tanzania.
On the part of Msakakuona, he helped U-17 win bronze at the Cosafa Boys tournament held in Maseru, Lesotho, last December. However, Msakakuona did not pick our calls. Msakakuona has been in charge of the U-17 side for more than five years.
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