By Joy Ndovi
FCB Nyasa Bullets Nigerian forward Babatunde Adepoju has for the first time expressed his wish to play for the Flames.
In an interview with Bullets media team, he said Malawi has made him a star and he would be glad to give back to the country.
鈥淢alawi has given me a lot. It has made me a football star. So, definitely, I would like to give back to the nation if an opportunity comes,鈥 he said.
This is the first time that Babatunde has publicly admitted his interest in playing for Malawi.
Previously, it was Football Association of Malawi (FAM) that tried to push for the Nigerian to be granted Malawi citizenship in order to qualify to play for the Flames.
FAM last year, engaged the Ministry of Youth and Sports to help them facilitate dual citizenship of some players to beef up the Flames ahead of the 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifiers which kick off in November.
But under Section 6(1) of the Malawi Citizenship (Amendment) Act, CAP 15:01 of the Laws of Malawi, 鈥渆ligible Malawians to acquire dual citizenship are only Malawians by birth or descent鈥.
Babatunde, can, therefore, obtain Malawi citizenship through naturalisation or registration, having stayed in the country for eight years.
But this means he will have to denounce his Nigerian citizenship to switch to Malawian.
Babatunde鈥檚 journey to Malawi was by chance as his initial destination was Tanzania in 2017.
After failing to clinch a deal in Tanzania, he entered Malawi and signed a four months deal with Blue Eagles.
However, he never got a chance to play for the Malawi Police Service outfit and joined Masters Security where he helped the side win the Carlsberg Cup after beating Mighty Wanderers in the final in 2018.
The following season, the Nomads snapped him up and he played for them for two season before letting him go.
Bullets signed him in 2021 and the rest is history.
In 2022, Babatunde became the first foreigner to win the Golden Boot as well as Player of the Season.
The Golden Boot was the fourth accolade for Babatunde who also won the 2022 FDH Bank Cup top scorer award and as the 2021 Airtel Top 8 Golden Boot.