Many Zambian teams have expressed interest in signing Malawian players; however, the majority of them must first go through a one-month trial before receiving a recommendation.

Out of the five players invited to Zambia for trials this year, only two were signed; the other two failed the test.

Zambia Super League side, Kabwe Warriors invited Malawian League Golden Boot winner Clement Nyondo for a two-week trial, but the player turned down the invite.

Nyondo’s agent, Harron Kassim, says he declined an offer because he didn’t think it would be wise to put him through trials.

“Yes, I was invited as what the agent told me, but I was against a decision to undergo trials,” Nyondo said.

Warriors then invited Civil Service United goal poacher Binwell Katinji and Patrick Phiri. According to Kassim, Katinji passed the trials.

“He scored six goals in five games during his trials, and he will be joining the team next year,” he said.

“Nothing wrong for players to go under trials in Zambia”-Kassim

Football commentator Higger Mkandawire says it is not good for Malawian players to undergo trials because they are a torturous process.

“In modern football, trials were an old system teams used to access players because they had barriers to how to get to the bottom of the players whom they wanted,” he said.

Former Flames striker Esau Kanyenda, who played his professional football in Russia and South Africa, said it is not fair for Malawian players to attend trials in Zambia, Mozambique or even Tanzania.

“Nowadays we have videos; that is enough to seal a deal,” he said.

But Kassim disagrees “People do not know that the Zambia league is more competitive; their league is on TV than ours. Sourcing videos in Malawi is a problem. Few teams are able to provide videos. So, there is nothing wrong for our players to go under trials in Zambia,”

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This year, Robert Saize Gomez made the grade in Zambia as he signed for Zanaco after undergoing a 14-day trial.