Malawi Women’s National Football Team Coach Lovemore Fazili and Masters Football Club Coach Peter Mponda are among high-profile coaches attending the Confederation of African Football (Caf) A-coaching course at Mpira Village in Blantyre City.

The coaching course, which has attracted 25 participants, commenced yesterday.

It marked the return of the advanced coaching programme after a 10-year break, with the last edition held in 2016.

Other high-profile names include Caps United Assistant Coach Joseph Kamwendo, Flames Assistant Coach Pritchard Mwansa, Malawi Under-20 National Football Team Coach Enos Chatama, Luanar Mitundu Coach Oscar Kaunda and former Silver Strikers coach Peter Mgangira.

This could be a relief for the local coaches, who have waited for 10 years to upgrade their badges.

The course comes two weeks after Football Association of Malawi (Fam) announced that they would hire a new coach to lead the Scorchers at the 2027 Fifa Women’s World Cup in Brazil as Fazili does not have a Caf A- coaching licence.

Four female coaches— Carolyne Phiri, Chisomo Nkhoma, Linda Kasenda and Karen Chawula—are among the participants.

A Fam statement, released on Monday, says the commencement of the course is an important step.

“The return of the course marks an important step in strengthening coaching education and developing highly qualified coaches [who are] capable of contributing to football development at both domestic and international levels,” the statement reads.

The Caf A coaching licence is a minimum requirement for African coaches to lead national teams at Caf and Fifa competitions.

Sports analyst James Jemar Majawa said the return of the course was a significant development, considering the challenges local coaches without CAF A qualifications had faced in securing technical positions at higher levels of the game.

“Acquiring the qualification will help address such challenges by giving coaches the necessary credentials to pursue higher-level coaching opportunities,” he said..

Fam last hosted the Caf A-coaching course in 2016, after which Caf directed member associations to suspend existing coaching courses and develop customised coaching manuals.