On Monday, five of the ten FCB Nyasa Big Bullets players named in Patrick Mabedi’s 31-man provisional squad reported for national duty as Malawi started preparing for next month’s 2026 World Cup Qualifiers.
The Flames will host São Tomé and Príncipe at Bingu National Stadium on 6 June before facing Equatorial Guinea in Malabo four days later.
On Sunday, the Malawi coach announced an interim squad of local-based players, including ten of our stars, to start camping in Blantyre for two weeks before moving to Lilongwe on 27 May.
Meanwhile, half of the Bullets players joined the camp at the Mpira Village in Chiwembe. They include goalkeeper Innocent Nyasulu, defenders Blessings Mpokera, Precious Sambani and Yamikani Mologeni, as well as midfielder Chrispin Mapemba.
Lloyd Aaron, Lanjesi Nkhoma and Patrick Mwaungulu will report for camping at a later stage, while Chikumbutso Salima and Ephraim Kondowe, who are nursing injuries, will have to pass a fitness test after their recuperation to be released for the two international matches.
Malawi is in Group H of the 2026 World Cup African Preliminary Qualifiers and after facing São Tomé and Príncipe and Equatorial Guinea next month, the Flames will host Namibia on 17 March 2025, before travelling for an away fixture against Tunisia eight days later.
From two matches, Mabedi’s side is sitting in fourth position in the standings with three points after recording a 1-0 victory away to Liberia, before succumbing to a 1-0 home defeat against Tunisia in Lilongwe in November.
With the same number of two games played, Tunisia leads Group H with six points, seconded by Equatorial Guinea who have the same number of points, while Nambia is third with three points but with a better goal difference over Malawi. Liberia and Sao Tome, who are winless, are fifth and sixth in the standings.
