By Joy Ndovi
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) says it has spent K1 billion which Malawi National Council of Sports disbursed to the association two weeks ago on Flames鈥 arrears.
The amount was part of K1.5 billion which Ministry of Youth and Sports allocated to the association for the 2025/26 financial year.
In his speech at the association鈥檚 annual general meeting in Salima on Saturday, FAM president Fleetwood Haiya said they used the money to pay arrears accumulated by the Flames.
He said: 鈥淔irst, let me thank His Excellency, Dr Lazarus Chakwera, for accepting to be a patron for our national teams. And beyond that, let me also thank Chakwera, the Minister of Youth and Sports, the Malawi National Council of Sports nd all stakeholders who also made it possible that FAM should get K1 billion, which went towards the national team activities.
鈥淎s you may recall, we had some arrears. But this funding has helped us to clear all those arrears.鈥
FAM owed players as well as service providers such as travel agents about K1 billion for the Flames 2026 Fifa World Cup, Confederation of African Football (CAF) African Nations Championship qualifiers and Cosafa Cup engagements.
With Fifa World Cup qualifiers against Namibia, Liberia, Sao Tome and Equatorial Guinea set to resume in September, FAM will need more funding.
FAM general secretary Alfred Gunda in an interview said they will engage the ministry for extra funding.
He said: 鈥淭he FAM allocation for the period is K1.5 billion and so far we have accessed K1 billion.
鈥淯pon exhausting what is remaining, we will liquidate and ask for consideration where there will be a need. Every engagement is a stand-alone project that we submit for consideration.鈥
This means FAM will have to rely on other reveneu sources.
FAM gets K250 million from Flames鈥 officials sponsor FDH Bank and Fifa grant for travelling expenses which was at K420 million in the 2024/25 financial cycle.
Football analyst George Chiusiwa in an interview called for transparency on how the association spends the resources.
He said: 鈥淭here is need for transparency on how the association utilises all these resources.
鈥淲hat kind of expenses have they used the K1 billion to pay for when they already had funding from Fifa as well as FDH Bank?鈥
Sports Council spokesperson Edgar Mtulumbwa was not available for comment on whether FAM will be given extra funding.