Football Association of Malawi (Fam) President Fleetwood Haiya believes the Malawi National Football Team, the Flames, will qualify for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) finals.

Haiya was speaking with Zodiak on Monday night.

He said the Flames have realistic chances of qualifying for next year’s Afcon finals, to be staged in Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya.

“We are now focusing on the Flames. We have all the hope that the Flames will qualify for the Afcon finals. We have only played two matches,” he said.

Currently, the Flames are third in Group B of the Afcon qualifiers with three points from two matches, one point behind both Egypt and Angola.

Egypt lead the group on goal difference after beating South Sudan 5-0 in Juba last month.

Haiya said Malawians should not lose hope in the Flames.

“My plea to Malawians is that they should not lose hope. I am sure that, one day, the boys will start winning matches. We are doing everything possible to give the team enough support,” he said.

Malawi will face Egypt in back-to-back fixtures next month. The team will host Egypt at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe City on November 17 before travelling to Cairo, Egypt, for the second-leg match six days later.

The team will face South Sudan and Angola in the final group matches in March next year.

Flames coach Kalisto Pasuwa was tasked to qualify the Flames to the Afcon finals.

Sports analyst Parry Chinyama said the Flames had an uphill task.

“It is not an easy road for Malawi. The loss to Angola made life difficult for the Flames,” he said.

Two teams from each group will advance to the Afcon finals.

Malawi last qualified for Afcon finals in 2021 and reached the round-of-16 stage in Cameroon, where they lost 2-1 to Morocco.