Malawi demand qualifier against Nigeria be moved to Abuja

The Football Association of Malawi has written
to Fifa to move their decisive World Cup
qualifier from the UJ Esuene Stadium, Calabar
to the National Stadium in Abuja As the battle for the leadership of Group F in
the 2014 Fifa World Cup, Africa qualifiers
gathers momentum, the Malawian football
governing body has made a passionate appeal
to Fifa to move the encounter against Nigeria
from Calabar to the Abuja National Stadium. According to FAM's letter to Fifa, "There is
security risk in Calabar where the match will be
played, as reported by the Commonwealth
Commission. The venue of the match is risky
to our delegation and we would like Fifa to shift
the match to Abuja or to a neutral country where our delegation will be safe. "Calabar has been flagged as a high-risk
security area and this alert cannot be taken
lightly. Our Minister of Sports will be part of
the travelling delegation and we do not want to
take security risks by travelling to Calabar." Earlier on, Belgian coach Tom Saintfiet who
volunteered to lead the Flames against the
Super Eagles, voiced out his inconvenience
with the match being played in Calabar. "Nigeria would like to play in Calabar because it
is close to Cameroon in the south-east of
Nigeria - not so easy to reach with the only
connection via Lagos and Abuja but with no
international flights," Saintfiet told the media. "There are not so many hotels available so it
will be very difficult to get there. I have one
question also about security because the UK's
Foreign and Commonwealth Office says it is a
no-travel area,” he said "Fifa may have to think of shifting the match
either to Abuja or to another place outside
Nigeria because Calabar is obviously not the
capital and it is not a big city. The
accommodation is not good for such a big
game. "But I think it is also a plan by Nigeria. They try
to disturb their opponents on and off the pitch.
So in all the ways we must be prepared as top
professionals to try to find solutions and make
good plans," concluded Saintfiet. The Malawians also protested over the
appointment of referee Hamada Nampiandraza
who they claimed gave a below par
performance at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations.