Malawian national soccer team

Malawi
Republic of Malawi

Nickname (s)

The Flames
The flames

Association

Football Association of Malawi

confederacy

CAF

Head coach

Meke Mwase (since 2019)

Record scorer

Kinnah Phiri (71)

Record player

Young Chimodzi (159)

Home stadium

Kamuzu Stadium

FIFA code

MWI

FIFA rank

123. (1141 points)
(as of July 16, 2020)

First jersey

Second jersey

statistics

First international game Nyasaland 0:12 Ghana ( Malawi , October 15, 1962 )

Biggest victories Malawi 8-1 Botswana ( Malawi ; July 13, 1968 ) Malawi 8-1 Djibouti ( Kamuzu-Stadio , Malawi ; May 31, 2008 )

Biggest defeat Nyasaland 0:12 Ghana ( Malawi , October 15, 1962 )

Successes in tournaments

African Championship

Participation in the finals

2 ( first : 1984 )

Best results

Preliminary round 1984 , 2010

(As of March 11, 2020)

The Malawian national football team is subordinate to the Football Association of Malawi and represents the South African state of Malawi in football. The association has played international matches since the 1960s. Before 1966 there was the Nyassaland national team .

The team celebrated its greatest successes in the 1980s. Before taking part in the Africa Cup in 2010 , Malawi could only qualify for this competition in 1984 . In 1987 the Malawian national team won the bronze medal at the All-Africa Games in Kenya . The country has not yet qualified for a world championship.

The German Burkhard Ziese was Malawi's national coach from 2005 to 2006.

Tournaments

World Championship

1966 in England	not participated
1970 in Mexico	not participated
1974 in Germany	not participated
1978 in Argentina	not qualified
1982 in Spain	not qualified
1986 in Mexico	not qualified
1990 in Italy	not qualified
1994 in the USA	withdrawn
1998 in France	not qualified
2002 in South Korea / Japan	not qualified
2006 in Germany	not qualified
2010 in South Africa	not qualified
2014 in Brazil	not qualified
2018 in Russia	not qualified

In qualifying for the World Cup in Brazil , Malawi met Nigeria , Kenya and Namibia . With a 2-0 defeat against their direct rivals Nigeria, Malawi missed out on a possible group victory and thus the qualification on the last day of the match. In the first leg, Malawi wrested a 1-1 draw from multiple World Cup participants and group favorites Nigeria in Blantyre . Malawi ended Group F with one win (1-0 in Namibia ), four draws and one defeat.

Four years later, Malawi missed qualifying in the first round against Tanzania . After a 2-0 defeat in the first leg, a 1-0 in front of the home crowd was not enough to move into the second round.

Africa championship

1962 to 1974 : did not participate
1976 : not qualified
1978 : not qualified
1980 : did not participate
1982 : not qualified
1984 : preliminary round
1986 : not qualified
1988 : did not participate
1990 : not qualified
1992 : did not participate
1994 to 2008 : not qualified
2010 : preliminary round
2012 to 2019 : not qualified

Malawi first qualified for an African Cup of Nations in 1984 , when only eight teams competed in the tournament in Ivory Coast . After a 3-0 defeat against Algeria , which took part in the World Cup in 1982 and 1986, the underdog won 2-2 in the second game against later finalists Nigeria . With a 0: 1 against Ghana , Malawi ended the group stage with 1: 5 points as bottom of the table and was eliminated from the tournament.

After 26 years, Malawi again took part in an African Championship in 2010. The team benefited from the fact that the continental elimination round for the World Cup in South Africa also served as the qualifying round for the Africa Cup. In the group matches of the third round, Malawi, third place behind the selection of Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso and a record of only four points and 4:11 goals, was enough to make it to the continental finals.

At the tournament in Angola , the team of the local coach Kinnah Phiri caused a big surprise: In the first group game, Malawi defeated Algeria, which had qualified for the World Cup, 3-0. One of the goalscorers was striker Russel Mwafulirwa , who at the time was under contract for the Swedish first division club IFK Norrköping and was one of only two players in the 23-man squad active in Europe. Malawi lost the second game against hosts Angola 2-0.

For Malawi to have reached the quarter-finals for the first time, a draw in the last group game would have been enough. However, the team lost 3-1 to Mali . After just three minutes, the Malawians were 2-0 down, a goal by Mwafulirwa did nothing to change the team's elimination.

African Nations Championship

2009 : not qualified
2011 : not qualified
2014 : did not participate

South African Championship ( COSAFA Cup )

1997 : fifth
1998 : not qualified
1999 : not qualified
2000 : quarter-finals
2001 : semi-finals
2002 : second
2003 : second
2004 : quarter-finals
2005 : not qualified
2006 : not qualified
2007 : not qualified
2008 : not qualified
2009 : quarter-finals
2013 : seventh
2015 : fifth
2016 : preliminary round
2017 : preliminary round
2018 : preliminary round
2019 : quarter-finals

East / Central African Championship

1973 - did not participate
1974 - did not take part
1975 - second
1976 - semi-finals
1977 - third
1978 - East / Central African champion
1979 - East / Central African champion
1980 - third
1981 - preliminary round
1982 - preliminary round
1983 - fourth
1984 - second
1985 - third
1987 - did not qualify
1988 - East / Central African champion
1989 - second
1990 - preliminary round
1991 - preliminary round
1992 - fourth
1994 - did not participate
1995 - did not participate
1996 - did not participate
1999 - did not participate
2000 - did not participate
2001 - did not participate
2002 - did not participate
2003 - did not participate
2004 - did not participate
2005 - did not participate
2006 - quarter-finals
2007 - did not participate
2008 - did not participate
2009 - did not participate
2010 - quarter-finals
2011 - quarter-finals
2012 - quarter-finals
2013 - not invited
2015 - quarter-finals
2017 - not invited
2019 - not invited

Record player

(As of March 11, 2020)

Record player
Games	player	position	Period	Gates
159	Young Chimodzi	Defense	1979-1995	13
133	Jack Chamangwana †	Defense	1975-1985	10
129	Lawrence Waya	attack	1982-1996	28
126	Harry Waya	?	1977-1987	08th
117	Kinna Phiri	attack	1973-1981	71
112	Gilbert Chirwa	?	1981-1993	04th
110	Jonathan Billie	?	1978-1987	08th
104	Joseph Kamwendo	midfield	2003-2017	06th
103	Felix Nyirongo	?	1986-1997	02
102	Peter Mponda	Defense	1998-2011	02

Record shooters
Gates	player	Period	Games
71	Kinna Phiri	1973-1981	117
28	Lawrence Waya	1982-1996	129
28	Frank Sinalo	1981-1989	075
23	Stock dandize	1977-1983	070
22nd	Essau Kanyenda	1999-2015	072
22nd	Yasin Osman	1966-1975	067
21st	Chiukepo Msowoya	2006-	081
18th	Peterkins Kayira	1983-1989	068
17th	Barnet Gondwe	1976-1981	066
15th	Spy Msiska	1971-1979	058

Note: FIFA does not recognize games against Zanzibar and in qualifying for the Olympic football tournaments. Only Joseph Kamwendo with 102 and Peter Mponda with 100 games are in the FIFA hundreds of games.

Source: Malawi - Record International Players (last updated on August 12, 2020)

Known players

Striker Daniel Chitsulo is the only Malawian footballer who played in a German professional league. He played a total of 24 games in the 2nd Bundesliga for VfL Osnabrück and Rot Weiss Ahlen . He scored a goal. In his youth, Chitsulo played for 1. FC Cologne . He was not taken into account for the 2010 African Cup of Nations.
Russel Mwafulirwa was active in Sweden for years. The attacker scored two goals in the 2010 African Championship, making it Malawi's top scorer.
Defender Elvis Kafoteka was under contract in Hong Kong and Rwanda . He scored in 2010 in a surprising 3-0 win over Algeria.
Defender Peter Mponda played in Canada and for a long time in South Africa . He was used in all three games over 90 minutes at the 2010 African Championship.
Former international Kinnah Phiri led Malawi to the Africa Championship as a coach for the first time in 26 years.
Striker Essau Kanyenda was in the 2003 final of the Russian Cup with FC Rostov . Later he was also under contract with Lokomotiv Moscow .