Luwinga TDC Not For Elite Football Matches – Nyamilandu

The Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has now come out in the open and informed soccer enthusiasts in the Northern region that its Technical Development Centre being constructed in Luwinga Township in the city of Mzuzu will not be hosting any Premier or Super League matches.

This revelation comes against high expectations that once the construction of the facility is completed it will automatically substitute the dilapidated Mzuzu Stadium whose playing surface is very disappointing.

Speaking after inspecting the facility on Friday ahead of the Annual General Meeting to be held on over the weekend at Chintheche in Nkhata-Bay, FAM president, Walter MacMillan Nyamilandu Manda said Luwinga Technical Development Centre is the facility of own its kind, being a school of excellence it is only designed for youth football development programs.

“This is the school of excellence only designed to nurture young talent and not premier or Super League matches, boys and girls will be coming here, developed in all spheres of life, be it football talents, life skills and other leadership roles,” Nyamilandu said.

The FAM president also wondered the rationale used for the certification of the Mzuzu Stadium to host Super League matches considering the pathetic state in which it is at the moment.

Nyamilandu then appealed to government, Mzuzu City Council and all other relevant stakeholders in sports development to consider making it possible for Mzuzu City to quickly renovate or have a new stadium that will be even hosting international games being the Northern regions capital city.

However, Nyamilandu’s revelation even shocked the Chairperson for the Northern Region Football Association (NRFA) Lameck Zettu Khonje who could not hide but registered his frustration saying soccer lovers in the Northern region thoughts Luwinga Technical Development Centre is an outright ideal substitute for the old Mzuzu Stadium.

• “We really thought that the construction of the facility will provide an automatic solution to the stadium problem we have in Mzuzu city at the moment but only to learn that Luwinga Technical Development Centre will just be strictly for nursery type of football development purposes,” Khonje said.

Late last year, soccer enthusiasts in the Northern region were also shocked when it was revealed that another facility which is the state of the art, Mzuzu Youth Centre currently under construction will have no football ground.

To maintain the quality of grass on the Luwinga Technical Development Centre’s two pitches they will be connected to solar powered water pumps joined to a borehole a development which is still pending an approval from the Mzuzu City Council.