Malawi’s Flames have been drawn against Comoros in the 2024 African Nations Championship (CHAN) first-round play-offs. This follows a draw the Confederation of African Football (CAF) conducted at its headquarters in Egypt on Thursday.
The Flames will take on Congo between 28 February and March 2, 2025 with the second leg scheduled between 7 and 9 March in Malawi. The overall winner between Malawi and Comoros date either South Africa or Egypt in the second round in May 2025.
The games against Comoros will present newly-appointed Flames coach Kalisto Pasuwa his first test after being handed a two-year contract on Wednesday.
Malawi, who have never qualified for CHAN which is exclusive to domestic league players, did not participate in the initial CHAN qualifiers but accepted a late CAF invitation to the specially arranged qualifiers.
CHAN is usually a 16-team competition but with Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda hosting being the hosts, the number of participating teams rose to 17, prompting CAF to add two more teams, bloating it to a 19-member tournament.
CAF extended invitations to countries that withdrew from the initial qualifiers to engage for the playoffs for the extra two slots.
Malawi will participate in the play-offs alongside South Africa, Egypt, Algeria, Comoros, Gabon, and the Gambia. Gabon and Gambia will meet in the other play-off with South Africa taking on Egypt.
CHAN was scheduled for March 2025 but it has since been shifted to August 2025.
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