First Merchant Bank (FMB) has disclosed plans to expand FMB Under-20 Football League to all districts in the country by next year.
Currently, the K20 million league, which is into its seventh year, is being played in nine districts after it started with three districts in 2009.
FMB Group General Manager, Phillip Madinga, said his company was motivated to continue sponsoring the league and expand across the country because of the immense talent that needs to be nurtured.
“We [FMB] are trying to make sure that this tournament is participated by everyone in the country. We started off with three districts; Blantyre, Mzuzu and Lilongwe and increased those to six districts. This year, we have increased further to nine districts and hopefully, next year we will reach out to all the districts,” Madinga said.
He then thanked Football Association of Malawi (Fam) President, Walter Nyamilandu, for offering Surestream Stadium to National Youth Football Association, which runs the league.
According to Madinga, the biggest achievement of the league has been keeping the youths away from promiscuous behavior.
“What we are seeing now is the number of those young students, that are playing even in the national team, continuing with their education. Our initial focus was to support government in the development of grassroots football, but we are finding out that we are now beginning to see more fruits, including a saving culture among the people by opening their bank accounts,” he said.
Minister of Sports and Culture, Grace Chiumia, commended FMB for the sponsorship.
“As government, we don’t take this for granted, and we pledge to continue supporting the bank so that their objectives are being achieved,” Chiumia said.
Nyamilandu said the youth league launch that took place at Saint Paul Apostle Minor Seminary in Mangochi gives the association confidence that the country has a brighter football future.
“We started with few districts, but we are now growing. The more we expand, the more talent will be exposed, hence turning the country as one of the talented football nations in the world,” he said.
This year, 121 teams are going to participate with the winner at national level, pocketing a trophy and K 1 million, up from K750, 000 last year. Second-placed team will get K 600, 000 while the district champions will get K 300, 000.
During the league launch, there was a trophy parade and also an exciting match involving Zomba Under-20 select and Mangochi Under-20 select, with the former winning 3-0.
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