It’s D-Day for Football Association of Malawi (FAM) President Walter Nyamilandu as he faces six candidates for the position of FIFA Council member seat bloc at elections which will be held in Morocco today.
Unlike in 2018 when he faced Danny Jordaan for the vacant position, the FAM boss is in a tight race with the Nigerian Football Association President Amaju Pinnick who has emerged as a favorite following reports that several Anglophone countries have declared their support for the NFA President.
With South African billionaire Patrice Motsepe poised to take over the CAF Presidency, the English-speaking block is remaining with one slot which is now being heavily contested by Nyamilandu, Pinnick, Zambia’s Andrew Kamanga, Kenya’s Nicholas Mwendwa, Gambia’s Lamin Kaba Bajo and Tanzania’s Wallace Karia.
If Nyamilandu retains his, he will be the first Malawian to serve as executive member of FIFA for two consecutive terms.
Meanwhile, reports have emerged that the Malawi government has not endorsed Nyamilandu’s candidature.
According to a story in the Nation Newspaper, Sports Minister Ulemu Msungama said he was just hearing the news from the local media.
“Every country would want to endorse their son in such circumstances. But as Sports Ministry, we are not aware of Mr. Nyamilandu’s candidature. We only see this in the media.
“We can’t just wake up and endorse something FAM has not even bothered to tell us about. We expected FAM to at least officially inform us about Mr. Nyamilandu’s intention to contest.
“That way we would also know how to support his candidature as Sports Ministry. Imagine we have received a request for support from our counterpart in Cameroon for their candidate and not FAM President,” he was quoted by the local daily paper.
