Malawi Under-15 Boys’ National Football Team faces Hungary this afternoon in the 2026 Fifa Under-15 World Cup and Festival Tier C Round of 32 at Hovsan Competition Complex in Baku, Azerbaijan.

Malawi dropped into Tier C after finishing third in Group B with nine points from five matches. They won against Chinese Taipei, Oman and Suriname before suffering defeats to Algeria and Argentina.

Malawi U-15 team coach Joseph Malizani in an interview yesterday said he is confident of sailing past Hungary.

“We have recovered from the last two defeats. We are now looking forward to the match against Hungary,” he said.

Malizani will be banking on Malawi’s top goal scorer at the tournament Takuzwa Maluwe, who has netted five of the team’s 11 goals.

He scored twice in the opening victory over Chinese Taipei before finding the net against Oman, Suriname and Argentina.

Jazaka Amidu and Elisha Nyirenda, who have scored twice each as well as Lameck Kamanga and Sipho Ngwira who have contributed a goal apiece, will also be instrumental of Malizani’s game plan.

A victory will take Malawi into Tier C Round of 16, where they could face either Luxembourg or Liberia tomorrow.

On the other hand, a loss will relegate Malawi to compete in placement matches against other losing sides.

The invitational  tournament’s second stage is divided into six performance tiers, with teams continuing to compete according to their results in the knockout rounds.

Winners progress to face other winners, while defeated teams are matched against other losing sides to determine their final positions.

The overall winner of Tier A will be crowned champion.

Matches are played in an eight-a-side format, over two 20-minute halves.