Caf envoy inspects Bingu Stadium again
Football Association of Malawi has said it is optimistic that Confederation of African Football will approve Bingu National Stadium ahead of the World Cup qualifier against Ivory Coast on October 6. “We are keeping our fingers crossed that we will be cleared to host Ivory Coast next month. The continental football governing body rejected the facility in…
Football Association of Malawi (Fam) has said it is optimistic that Confederation of African Football (Caf) will approve Bingu National Stadium (BNS) ahead of the World Cup qualifier against Ivory Coast on October 6.
Caf envoy Titus Kunamuene from Namibia conducted another inspection at the facility on Saturday.
Fam General Secretary Alfred Gunda said the Caf envoy was yet to finalise his report upon assessing the stadium.
“We are keeping our fingers crossed that we will be cleared to host Ivory Coast next month. A lot of work has been done and we believe Caf is satisfied with progress of renovations,” Gunda said.
The continental football governing body rejected the facility in August this year due to its poor condition, forcing Fam to host Mozambique at Orlando Stadium in South Africa last week.
Flames won the match 1-0 courtesy of Richard Mbulu’s goal.
The association spent K9 million after hosting the Mamba’s in South Africa.
Fam was also responsible for officiating personnel, security and all details of the match venue.
Meanwhile, Youth and Sports Minister Ulemu Msungama said the government was certain that the facility would pass Caf test.
“We have done good work in a short time and we expect positive news from Caf,” Msungama said.
Recently, government officials indicated that the facility needed K50 million to meet standards set by Caf.
Out of the K50 million, about K15 million is required for the purchase of chairs for media, dressing rooms and other rooms.
In addition, K6 million is needed for the maintenance of the training pitch and K2.5 million for purchase of teams’ and officials’ benches.
However, the facility owes service providers an estimated K140 million.
Since it was opened in 2017, BNS has hosted few international and local matches.
It hosted Flames matches against Comoros Islands, Morocco, Lesotho and Madagascar.
However, Malawi’s representative in Caf Champions League, Nyasa Big Bullets, will host AmaZulu at BNS in the return leg on Saturday before Mighty Wanderers and Silver Strikers face-off in the FDH Bank Cup semifinal on Sunday at the same venue.
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