Football Association of Malawi (Fam) has u-turned on its empty threat to withdraw the Flames from the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) and the 2018 African Nations Championship (Chan) qualifiers.
It was not the first time let alone the last. It is worth noting that Fam has never withdrawn the national team from any Afcon competition after confirming participation as is the case now.
In 2014, Fam President, Walter Nyamilandu, also made what seemed like buying public sympathy when he proclaimed that the Flames would pull out of Afcon qualifiers.
“We have no choice but to forgo the Nations Cup because government advised us to prioritise,” Nyamilandu told BBC Sport on March 12 2014.
A few weeks later, the government released funds and the Flames were in action.
National teams have their own political sensitivities. Fam knows this fact hence its latest decision was merely about piling the hot coal on Capital Hill so as to jolt them into action.
Little wonder, the Minister of Labour, Youth, Sports and Manpower Development, Henry Mussa, called Fam and the Sports Council for a meeting over the withdrawal threats. Fam’s threats work.
Cost of withdrawal
However, if Fam indeed withdrew the Flames from the Afcon and Chan qualifiers, it is worth looking at the opportunity cost of such a decision on and off the pitch.
Obviously, a pullout would have attracted an K8 million fine for Fam from the Confederation of African Football (Caf).
Minus the two competitions, Fam could have also missed out on gate collections from four games. Each home game for the Flames earns a net of around K40 million.
The Flames also stood to lose out on proceeds from broadcasting rights. The most affected would have been the players such as Gabadinho Mhango.
“This affects our international careers because we wanted to play in the qualifiers with the hope of qualifying for the finals. Some of us have never played in the Afcon finals so this would have been another chance to give it a go,” Gabadinho told Kick-Off magazine during the week.
Cost of participation
Past national football team budgets should give an idea on the cost of participation in the Afcon and Chan qualifiers.
Fam spent on the Flames K292 million in the 2016 financial year with K116 million coming from the government grant.
The grant had declined from K168 million which Fam received in 2015.
Fam earned K65 million from gate collections last year, some K2 million from fines and fees and K717 million from Fifa and Caf grants and cup sponsorships.
Some K63 million came from television and broadcasting rights, K31 million was from other incomes such as replica jerseys, World Cup and Confederation Cup tickets.
All this plus K57 million from investment incomes, Fam spends roughly K993 million on the national team’s engagements.
Ironically, Fam’s expenditure also hovers around K900 million. So according to figures extracted from the association’s audited accounts for 2016, Fam barely breaks even.
The Fifa and Caf grants go towards projects. Fifa does not fund senior national team assignments.
Possibility of qualifying
Qualification into such competitions is never guaranteed.
In terms of performance, the Flames have never qualified for the Chan finals and have only been to Afcon finals in 1984 and 2010.
In the qualifiers for the 2017 Afcon finals, the Flames characteristically missed out on the flight to Gabon Afcon finals after posting one win, two draws and three losses spread over coaches Ernest Mtawali and Young Chimodzi.
The Flames started off the 2017 qualifiers with a 2-1 home loss to weary Zimbabwe, then, 2-2 draw in Swaziland, a brave 0-0 draw in Conakry, Guinea was followed by a 2-1 home defeat. Zimbabwe rubbed salt on Malawi’s festering wounds after hammering them 3-0 in the return leg in Harare.
Malawi wound up the qualifiers with a 1-0 home win against Swaziland to finish with five points from a possible 18.
It was a decline in form compared to the 2015 Afcon qualifiers that had the Flames beating Mali (2-0), Ethiopia 3-2, a 0-0 draw in Addis Ababa and losses (2-0 and 3-0 to Algeria) and 2-0 away in Bamako. The Flames finished that race with seven points.
Some 11 points in the 2013 Afcon qualifiers that yielded no defeat but too many draws proved inadequate for a place at 2013 Afcon finals held in South Africa. Since that year, the Flames have been in decline.
Comparatively, despite the struggles, the recent past Flames squad had loads of experienced and quality players such as Peter Mponda, Joseph Kamwendo, Dave Banda and Esau Kanyenda.
The same cannot be said about the current squad whose only stars are Gabadinho, Limbikani Mzava and Robert Ngámbi.
Conclusion
While there is a debate on the pullout from the Afcon qualifiers, allowing the Flames to fulfil the Chan engagements makes more sense.
Chan preliminary round qualifiers are held in zones. Malawi belongs to the Southern Africa zone hence Fam can afford having the Flames fulfil such engagements.
Featuring up-and-coming Flames players in Chan then Cosafa Cup and Cecafa Cup would give the players exposure.
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