The Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has appointed former Flames Assistant coach Peter Mponda as the interim head coach for the Under-20 national football team.

Mponda’s mandate is to lead the team at the 2019 COSAFA Men’s Under-20 Championship to be held in Lusaka, Zambia between December 4-14.   The former Flames captain will be assisted by Audrey Makonyola and Christopher Nyambose.

Sibusiso Padambo has been retained as goalkeeper trainer while Aubrey Nankhuni and Victor Jobo are team manager and team doctor respectively.   FAM General Secretary Alfred Gunda confirmed the appointments and said all members have since accepted the offers.

“FAM, in consultation with the Coaches Association of Malawi, arrived at the decision to engage the panel for the COSAFA Assignments.     “They were handed the offers last week and got down to work already drawing programmes for the camp and identifying players upon their acceptance of the offers,” said Gunda.

He added that FAM and government are currently finalising the process of advertising for full time Under-20 and Under-17 coaches, to be supported by the Ministry of Sports, Youth and Culture.

“The advert will be floated in the media soon. Government gave us a green light to employ full-time coaches for U20 and U 17 and the formal process will start shortly. But for the COSAFA, which is urgent, we will go with an interim panel,” he said

Reacting to the appointment, Mponda, who was Flames assistant coach for two years under Belgian head coach Ronny Van Geneugden, said he is ready for the challenge.

“It is always an honour to serve the country and I am ready to lead the boys. I have been to the COSAFA Under-20 as assistant coach twice so I know what it takes. We will talk more about our plans when we name the squad over the weekend,” he said

The Under-20 squad is expected to start preparations on Monday, November 11 at the Mpira Village in Blantyre, and the squad will be announced by the end of this week.

By Gome Zakazaka