…to pay monthly stipend for players, officials…
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has set aside K350 million to bail out elite players and officials who depend on football as a source of income.
The FA’ Executive Committee had a Videoconference Emergency Meeting on Monday where a decision was made after an assessment by FAM Task Force report on the Impact of Covid-19 on Malawi Football and Recommended Mitigation Measures.
And on Tuesday, FAM President Walter Nyamilandu broke the news to the media during a press conference at Mpira Village where he disclosed that his association intends to use FIFA Special Projects funding for the Relief Fund.
Nyamilandu said the money will come from FIFA Special Projects funding for the 2020 subject to an approval from the world soccer governing body.
“FAM will offer monthly stipends to the above mentioned beneficiaries of not less than minimum wage as prescribed by Malawi Government.
“We will, in collaboration with relevant authorities like clubs and Associations, pay individual beneficiaries direct to their personal accounts between June and July,” said Nyamilandu.
He then disclosed that the decision to continue bailing out the clubs will depend on month to month assessment by the taskforce team.
“The Relief Fund will be assessed on month to month basis by the task force to determine the extent and continuation of the support. In the event that the situation normalises, FAM will withdraw the funding but after giving notice to the beneficiaries.
“We will immediately write FIFA to request for authorization to reallocate Special Projects funding for 2020 and upon FIFA’s approval the disbursement will start in June,” he said.
The FA boss also revealed that the association will increase the yearly subventions to member associations by 50 percent.
“Our Affiliates’ principle sources of revenues have been affected with the situation at hand and we resolved to release the funds earlier than planned. These funds will be available from June from the Operations Fund. In total, the association is expected to spend close to K350 million between June and December,” he added.
Nyamilandu then urged all football stakeholders to continue observing the precautionary measures to prevent the pandemic.
“Let’s continue observing the precautionary measures to stop the spreading of the virus and we are very sure that we will return to the stadiums very soon,” he concluded.
