The world football governing body, FIFA, has awarded Mibawa Television exclusive rights for Tuesday’s 2022 World Cup qualifying second leg clash between Malawi and Botswana at Kamuzu Stadium.
The development was confirmed by the television’s management on Saturday morning during a press briefing.
The station’s Managing Director John Nthakomwa said he was excited to have been recognized by FIFA.
“I am very excited with this development. It’s a strategy because ever since we started beaming live matches, we wanted to be recognized by FIFA now that it has been achieved, we are very happy and we are looking forward to producing content which is in line with FIFA standards,” he said.
The station, which has beamed over 22 matches, will supply the feed to FIFA during the match but what will happen afterwards will have nothing to do with the agreement.
However, Nthakomwa was quick to refute social media reports that the deal has been facilitated by the current Football Association of Malawi (FAM) President Walter Nyamilandu who is vying for a fifth term of office.
According to the Managing Director, the deal has nothing to do with the association as FIFA directly approached the station for the agreement.
“It’s just very unfortunate that Malawians have the tendency of pulling each other down but this deal was made possible because of our ability to produce quality content that has met FIFA’s standards.
“I have never met Nyamilandu for any meeting and it’s FIFA who directly contacted us and asked us to submit our content and after meeting their requirements, we were accepted and awarded these exclusive rights,” he said.
The station will beam Tuesday’s match and possibly struck another deal for future games with the world’s soccer governing body.
