FAM’s Commercial and Marketing Director Limbani Cliff Matola says Malawi has an opportunity to improve its football management to a world class level if stakeholders get organised.
Matola made the statement after his exposure to top class football management practices at the ongoing FIFA men’s U-20 World Cup in Poland, where he is working as the Marketing Venue Manager.
He said proper planning and documentation are some of the key football management initiatives he is learning through his engagement with fellow marketing colleagues, practices Malawi lack.
“It’s quite fulfilling that I am directly interfacing with FIFA Headquarters professionals, the representatives of FIFA sponsors (Commercial Affiliates), the teams, broadcasters and down to the fans securing seamless integration of world class football experience to all of them.
“There are a lot of take home tips here. Here nothing is taken for granted and paying attention to every detail is not taken as obvious. Planning and thorough stakeholder engagement and involvement and proper documentation of activities are some of the key elements,” said Matola.
His role is centred on implementing on-site FIFA Commercial Affiliates contractual rights for all the 7 matches scheduled at Bydgoszcz, one of the venues for the World Cup.
“It’s high time we learn to put things on paper and publish manuals of our football operations. We need to lobby for Value Adding Clinics so that we continue to train and remind all football stakeholders including our Commercial Affiliates their rightful roles and responsibilities.
“It’s sad to realise that most of our sponsors back home do not maximize their commercial rights therefore they don’t harvest escalated value out of football as it is done out here. So I believe that there is an opportunity to do more,” Matola said.
Currently, Matola’s team has managed 6 out of the 7 matches assigned to them.
He left the country on 14th May and is expected to be back after the final match on 15th June 2019.
