Super League of Malawi champions Mighty Wanderers has asked the government to construct a stadium in Blantyre saying their club has spent a lot of money in hosting matches in Lilongwe.
Blantyre has only two stadiums; Mpira Stadium (5 000 capacity) and Kamuzu Stadium (12 000 capacity) but they are not certified by CAF forcing Blantyre teams to host some of their games at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe—a distance of about 360 kilometres.
Kamuzu Stadium has been the home of Blantyre teams including Wanderers but it’s not certified by CAF and Football Association of Malawi (FAM) banned the stadium from hosting big matches.
In 2017 the stadium which had a capacity of about 41 000 people was trimmed to only host 12 000 for safety reasons.
In 2019 the government had started building two stadiums in Blantyre for Wanderers and their rivals FCB Nyasa Big Bullets but the construction was halted in 2022 before the project was completed.
Wanderers Football started here in Blantyre, but when we want to play in CAF or cup final we go to Lilongwe, see we have played our final league game in Lilongwe instead of Blantyre. It pains us so much. We want to have a stadium in Blantyre so that our fans should be able to watch us play. We are looking for a CAF recognised stadium so that we can play all our caf games in Blantyte and not like the current case. People should know that football started in Blantyre, Wanderers started it and then Bullets.
Wanderers director explains costs
Wanderers’ director of football David Kanyenda said they have lost a lot when it comes to transport and accommodation when the team is playing games in Lilongwe.
“As you know all games including youth, girls, junior and senior are being played in Lilongwe that’s why I asked the government for a stadium in Blantyre.
“This year we will play in CAF again, this time around we want to play games here in Blantyre and not in Lilongwe. The government should think of us and provide us with a stadium. What wrong have we committed? Football started here in Blantyre and not Lilongwe city. We want a big stadium that can accommodate a lot of fans just like Bingu National Stadium,” said Kanyenda.
Kanyenda said apart from talking to us, he has also delivered the same message to Blantyre deputy mayor Gerald Lipikwe to help them with a stadium.
Lipikwe confirmed to Bola News that he received the request: “I have taken that and I will deliver the message to our mayor and to the minister of sports. It is a genuine request because we have seen all our teams in Blantyre traveling to Lilongwe for international matches. We can say that the whole of the southern region does not have stadiums, which is bad.”
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