Malawi to face Ethiopia in friendly doubleheader

The Malawi national team will fine-tune for upcoming 2027 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying matches later this year via a doubleheader against Ethiopia in June.

Flames coach Kalisto Pasuwa confirmed that his wards will travel to Addis Ababa for the warm ups scheduled for 6 and 9 June. He described the games as an opportunity for him to assess his charges who remain the continents also-rans due to a lack of depth in quality.

The Zimbabwean said he needs to ensure that his players are mentally and pyschologically ready for the qualifying matches.

“We want to assess our mindset as both the technical team and players. We must not treat these as just friendly matches. We need to have the right mentality to win games, and we must be aggressive,” said Pasuwa told Malawi FA website.

The former Zimbabwe national team mentor added that he wants to address key tactical areas, particularly in the attacking- third

“These two games are very important because we want to test more players and fill some gaps. Offensively, we are still struggling, and we want to improve our ability to penetrate opponents. Playing teams like Ethiopia will help us evaluate that,” he said.

Pasuwa will name his squad for the strength-building matches on Thursday, 28 May, ahead of camp training on 1 June 2026.

The two teams last met during a 2023 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying tie, which ended in a barren draw.

Overall, the two teams have met eight times across all competitions.

The Flames have prevailed thrice against once for the Ethiopians, with the rest of the games ending in draws.