Celebrated former Flames midfield maestro ‘Senator’ Kennedy Malunga  has said the continued absence of  Malawian male footballers on CAF Africa Footballer-of-the-Year Awards’ nominations’ list, speaks volumes about the state of the country’s football.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) this week announced the list of nominees for the prestigious award and for the 39th year, Malawian male players have failed to break into the list.

When the awards come up next year, it will be 40 years since the then Belgium-based Malunga made the list as one of the six nominees.

In contrast, female footballers have shone brightly with France-based captain Tabitha Chawinga being nominated seven times for the Africa Women Footballer-of-the-Year accolade in the past eight years while her US-based sister, Temwa, has been nominated four times.

Tabitha and Temwa are in the running for this year’s women’s accolade.

In an interview yesterday, the South Africa-based Malunga described the situation as a cause for concern.

He said: “To think that next year, it will be 40 years without a Malawian male footballer being nominated  is  very sad.

“It is bad for our football, we need to go back to the drawing board and rethink what went wrong and what we can do to improve the level of our football, check what we did  better before to develop our talent.I s our development and foundation the same as before? Those are some of the areas that we need to critically look at.”

The former Mighty Wanderers midfield dynamo also said there is need to involve local football legends more to improve the standards of the game.

He said: “Our clubs hardly go far in continental tournaments and with due respect, our national team’s performance leaves a lot to be desired. We do not have players that can shine on the big stage as was the case before and it is, therefore, not surprising that our male players do not make the grade. We have a long way to go.

“FAM needs to work together with our legends, improve the development structures. Only then can we improve. Otherwise, we have the talent in our communities, let’s bring them out and develop them like before. During our time, we had a proper youth football set up.”

The former Mighty Wanderers midfield dynamo, who is one of the only two Malawians to have been nominated for the male Africa Footballer-of-the-Year Award apart from the late Cliffton Msiya, also congratulated the Scorchers and the women’s individual awards’ nominees. 

In subsidiary categories, the last time a male Malawian footballer earned a nomination was in 2022 when Gabadinho Mhango’s wonder strike against Morocco at the delayed 2021 Africa Cup of Nations, was nominated for the Goal of the Year.

On the other hand, Scorchers’ goalkeeper Mercy Sikelo and midfielder Rose Kabdzere are also in contention for this year’s Goalkeeper and Young Player-of-the-Year awards. The Scorchers have also been nominated for the National Team of the Year.

Renown football analyst Peter Kanjere also said it is not a surprise that no Malawian player has been nominated for such prestigious awards for that long.

He said: “We have average players who are not ambitious let alone consistent and technically sound for the international stage. We can’t export to even to South Africa or Tanzania. Our major export market is now Zimbabwe.

“We need to play more competitive international football right from the youth level for a minimum of 10 years continuously, broaden the pool of FDH Bank Premiership teams’ participation in CAF inter-club competitions and ensure a proper project is in place beyond mere participation and have a deliberate talent export strategy in place. 

“My model is identify players early, educate early, expose early to international  football and export early by the age of 18, real 18 not passport age.”

Kanjere, a seasoned journalist, who is involved in Ballon d’Or voting, said Malawi can learn from Ascent Soccer Academy and even support them to do more.

He said: “They understand football talent development pathway—-very strategic. They know our players,  the export market and are deliberate. They mean serious business.”