Puma terminates deal with Malawi FA
Sportswear giant Puma has ended its association with the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) with two more years remaining on the contract.
FAM President Walter Nyamilandu Manda confirmed to Puma has terminated the contract due to non-performance in the sale of replica jerseys.
“Yes I can confirm that the deal was cancelled due to non-performance on our part. The requirement was to sell the [10,000 units] stocks after a year but it took us a period of about three years to complete the initial stock,” said Nyamilandu.
Nyamilandu said FAM failed to pay the suppliers in time due to financial hiccups.
“We also couldn’t pay for the replicas due to financial constraints” he said.
He however said the Flames can still wear Puma products they already have with no strings attached.
FAM accepted the blame by overestimating the market and that the distribution system wasn’t good.
“We overestimated the market and our distribution channels weren’t clear-cut. The other challenge was our debt collection system. So these are the reasons learnt from the exercise” said the Fam president.
He said the better part is that the association managed to recover the capital and barely managed to break even.
Nyamilandu added that the association still has some money to invest and that it will in a month time announce new manufacturing partners.
