A football academy run by the president of Football Association of Malawi (FAM), Water Nyamilandu, has been launched on Saturday, at Mpira Village Stadium in Chiwembe, Blantyre.
Key figures who were present during the launching ceremony include Super League of Malawi (Sulom) President Tiya Somba Banda, former Flames legend and head coach Kinnah Phiri, Blantyre City Mayor His Worship Wild Ndipo, FAM’s General Secretary Gift Gunda Nyamilandu’s as well as players Yamikani Chester and Mike Mkwate.
Speaking after to the media after the launch, Nyamilandu said the decision to establish the academy came as one way of his commitment towards social responsibilty.
Nyamilandu sauid: “The community made me who I am today so I decided to establish this academy to give back to them and the whole essence of setting up the academy is to give an opportunity to the exciting talent we have in Malawi the academy will focus on football excellence because we want our football to be played in a Barcelona.”
He further said the academy will be using his personal money until the time he will find partners
Apart from football development, the academy, which targets under-15 youth, will also focus on football excellence because we want to play football Barcelona way, will also be providing vocational training, ICT, English, French and spiritual teachings.
Currently a total of 25 players have already been identified and enrolled at the academy on non-residential basis and they will be training at Limbe Country Club.
The launch of the academy comes as football fans are still eagerly waiting to hear if Nyamilandu will seek re-election for a fourth consecutive term at the FA’s elective Annual General Meeting (AGM) slated for December.
