Football officials in Chikwawa have formed a youth football league after drawing inspiration from the FMB Under-20 Youth Football League.
The league will be run using resources from several individuals within the district who have pledged to donate money and equipment.
Speaking during the launching ceremony on Saturday at Chikwawa boma, the district’s football chairperson, Evance Sulani, said with the help of Southern Region Youth Football Association (SRYFA), a youth committee was set up to run the developmental league.
“We have been hearing about FMB Under-20 Youth League in other districts, so we decided to have our own league to identify and nurture youthful players. We are glad that the Southern Region Youth Football Association is helping us to achieve our goals,” he said.
The youth league’s General Secretary, Titan Iman, said 12 teams are expected to be part of the commencement of the league with registration currently underway.
Interested teams are paying K20,000 each to be registered.
SRYFA Chairperson, Duncan Jumbe, said it was important to have active youth leagues in all the districts in the region to tap raw talent.
“They sought our expertise and we felt it was a good initiative. As you are aware, the National Youth Football Association unveiled plans to have competitive leagues in all the districts of the country,” he said.
Jumbe said to ensure that objectives are being met, the committee will engage independent officials for screening to bar overaged players from the league.
“We will come up with independent officials for fairness when vetting ages because we do not want the project to be compromised,” he said.
Jumbe pledged to donate match balls to the league.
In a match played during the ceremony, Lauji Academy defeated Nyasa FC 4-3.
Vincent Gauti claimed a hat-trick for Lauji while Bright Ngulube scored the other goal.
Blessings Malata, Innocent Gobede and Madalitso Kalitsiro scored Nyasa’s goals.
For winning, Lauji received two footballs from SRYFA whereas Nyasa got one.
Nyasa’s Gobede also received a football for being named man of the match.
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