The Flames at Bingu National Stadium:
Football Association of Malawi.
Malawi will host both legs of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) first-round play-offs against Comoros next month following a request from the islanders.
Comoros does not have a certified match venue for the play-offs hence requested the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) to consider hosting both legs.
FAM chief executive officer, Alfred Gunda, confirmed that the Flames will welcome Comoros at Bingu National Stadium on March 1, 2025, instead of traveling to the East African island.
Comoros will remain behind in Malawi to play Malawi again at the Lilongwe venue on the weekend of March 7 and 9 2025.
“There is a possibility of us hosting Comoros in Malawi for their home match on March 1, and we have since communicated to them that we are available for that arrangement,” Gunda told Malawi’s Radio 2 FM.
“It is good news for us. It would help us manage the team as well as save costs one of the key factors that affect our budget is the issue of travel costs.”
A return flight from Lilongwe to Comoros costs around $400 and would have cost FAM around $10,000 for a 25-member traveling squad including the leader of the delegation and coaches.
Bingu also hosted home AFCON qualifying matches for Ethiopia in 2023. The CHAN draw took place at the Confederation of African Football (CAF) headquarters in Egypt last Thursday.
The overall winner between Malawi and Comoros date either South Africa or Egypt in the second round in May 2025.
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 being the hosts, participating teams have risen to 17, prompting CAF to add two more, bloating it to a 19-member tournament.
CAF extended invitations to teams that withdrew from the initial qualifiers to engage in the playoffs for the extra two slots. Malawi will participate in the playoffs alongside South Africa, Egypt, Algeria, Comoros, Gabon, and the Gambia.
CHAN finals were scheduled for March 2025 but they were shifted to August 2025.
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