The identity of the Malawi National Football Team’s expatriate coach-designate remains a secret, but the Football Association of Malawi (Fam) will certainly unveil the Flames mentor this week.
Fam President, Walter Nyamilandu, who u-turned on his association’s earlier announcement that Gerald Phiri Senior was the Flames Head Coach, said the unveiling will take place between today and the weekend.
“The truth will be known by this weekend when we hold a press conference,” Nyamilandu insisted during the week.
Some 65 coaches, predominantly foreigners, applied for the job. With Fam not favouring locals such as Yasin Osman, Lawrence Waya, Eddingtone Ngónamo and Gilbert Chirwa, The Daily Times has stumbled on the possible identity of the new coach.
While expatriates such as Calisto Pasuwa, Bruce Globbelaar (Zimbabwe), Paulo Duarte (Portugal), Bobby Williamson (Scotland) and Belgian Adel Amrouche have been linked with the job, it is another Belgian Ronny Van Geneugden, who seems to be the favourite.
Geneugden’s agent Antonio Carlo Cabrera did not respond to our questionnaire seeking confirmation about his 48-year-old client who was, two months ago, the frontrunner for the then Orlando Pirates coaching job in South Africa.
A well-placed source at Fam said that Geneugden has coached top homeland clubs such as Genk after succeeding current Cameroon mentor Hugo Bross. In 2013, Fam also hired Belgian Tom Saintfiet as a freelance coach.
However, top Dutc h coaches Aad de Mos and Ruud Krol cannot be ruled out for the job which fell vacant on July 31 2016 when Fam decided against extending Ernest Mtawali’s contract.
“I will not tell you the name but he is from Europe and he is one of the qualified coaches,” the source said.
Reports suggest that, with the government indicating that it cannot afford an expatriate, Fam will take full responsibility for the coach.
The new coach is coming to steady the ship ahead of the African Nations Championship and Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
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