The Malawi national football team formed in 1966. The team affiliated to FIFA in 1967 and joined the Confederation of African Football in 1968. Known as the Flames, Malawi has had minimal success in world football.
Malawi is a small country in the south-east of Africa. The country is poor and accepts a large, but decreasing, amount of foreign aid. Agriculture supports much of Malawi’s economy. As with many poor African countries, Malawi has high infant mortality rates and life expectancy is relatively low.
The team played its first international a few years before officially forming under a football association. In 1962 Malawi lost 12-0 to Gold Coast (now Ghana). Twelve goals remains the team’s largest ever defeat. In just a few years, Malawi had progressed well and beat Botswana 8-1 in 1968. The Botswana victory remained Malawi’s record win until a 8-1 defeat of Djibouti in 2008.
Malawi entered its first world cup qualifying campaign in 1978 but has yet to reach the finals. The team has fared better in the Africa Cup of Nations, reaching the first round in 1984 and 2010.
Ranked 122nd in the world by FIFA, the Malawi national football team will have to work hard to keep their place.
World cup 2018
Fixtures to be announced.
Find out more