The Malawi National Football Team, Flames, will play Guinea in their Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) Group B opening match on 10th January, 2022 at Kouekong Stadium.
According to a fixture released by the Confederations of African Football (CAF), Malawi will open their campaign at exactly 17:00 hours at the 20,000 seater Stadium situated in Bafoussam City.
After playing Guinea, the Flames will then date Zimbabwe at the same venue on 14th January, 2022 before completing the Group stage with a crucial fixture against Sadio Mane’s Senegal on 18th January.
Malawi’s progress to the knockout stage at the tournament will depend on how the team will fare in the first two games.
This will be the team’s third time Afcon appearance after 1984 and 2010.
In 1984, the team failed to win a single game but the 2010 squad won the opening match against Algeria before losing to Mali and Angola to exit the tournament in the Group stages.
Currently, the team has regrouped to prepare for the upcoming trip to Saudi Arabia trip from where they will connect to Cameroun for Afcon finals.
Several foreign based players have already arrived in Malawi to join the local based players who were called into camp by the Technical Director Marian Mario Marinica who was named an interim coach at the tournament.
The Flames qualified for Afcon after beating Uganda 1-0 courtesy of a Richard Mbulu’s first half strike at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre.
Africa’s biggest national tournament was shifted to 2022 due to Covid-19 pandemic.
The hosts, Cameroun, will officially open the competition with a game against Burkina Faso on 9th January, 2022.