Malawi try to set up football academy

The Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has said that its highly ambitious dream of setting up an academy will require 500,000 US dollars and it has set the ball rolling by asking for help from England and Manchester City goalkeeper David James.

Nation Online of Malawi Tuesday quoted FAM president Walter Nyamilandu as saying that the association had a meeting with the England international on the issue.

The project includes the construction of a dormitory, classrooms, library, laboratory, dining room, equipment and at least two to three pitches and it is estimated to cost about 500,000 dollars, said Nyamilandu.

The president added that all the continental heavyweights like Cameroon, Nigeria, Senegal, Morocco, Tunisia, Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana have done well because they have well-established structures like football academies.

"That is why we hear of the Samuel Eto' os and the Didier Drogbas of this world," said Nyamilandu.

He said the association is also looking at going into partnership with top European clubs as part of this drive.

James, founder of UK-registered charity David James Foundation (DJF), came last Friday to formalise relationship with The Samaritan Trust (TST), a local charity dealing with the welfare of street children in Blantyre.

He visited TST's Skills' Training Centre at Green Corner along Chikwawa Road on Saturday afternoon and in the evening he signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at a ceremony held at Ryalls Hotel.

On Sunday, TST organized a fund-raising dinner at Blantyre Sports Club where James was the guest of honour to raise funds towards the welfare of street children.

James also officiated the match between St. Andrew's International High School Under-14 and Samaritan Under-14, which also featured his son Sonny. St. Andrew's carried the day 5-4 after a penalty shoot-out.

The England star later teamed up with veterans, including the legendary Kinnah Phiri in a select side that beat the street kids team Padiwa Sasewera 2-0 with goals coming from Tom Bowden and Kinnah.

Source: Xinhua