Malawian defender Lawrence Chaziya has signed a 10-month contract with Al-Hussein Irbid SC in Jordan, following his glowing performances for the Flames at the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) finals in Cameroon.
The Jordanian club has confirmed on its Facebook page signing the 23-year centre-back from Civil Service FC in Lilongwe on a free transfer following the expiry of his contract last December.
Civil General Secretary Ronald Chiwaula confirmed the deal for the defender who is moving from Malawi, ranked 129, to Jordan placed 90, on the latest Fifa Coca-Cola World Rankings.
He said Al-Hussein spotted Chaziya at the AFCON finals where Malawi reached the Round-of-16 for the first in the country’s history.
He is, according to reports, set to pocket $4,000 monthly salary, a big jump from Malawi where players earn as little as $50 monthly on average.
Chaziya made three appearances at AFCON with his debut at the tournament coming after having replaced injured captain Limbikani Mzava in a Group Game Malawi beat Zimbabwe 2-1.
Chaziya is the beneficiary of stand-in coach Mario Marinica’s selection as he roped in the defender alongside midfielder Zebron Kalima and goalkeeper Charles Thom ahead of the Flames camp in Saudi Arabia.
The three players were not part of the AFCON qualifiers, which coach Meck Mwase was in charge of before Malawi FA demoted him over suspect performances in the World Cup qualifiers and installed the Romanian Marinica in charge of the AFCON business.
Malawi has few players based in Asia with Japan-based attacker Jabulani Linje as the other footballer whereas defender Charles Petro and Fransisco Madinga play club football in Moldova and Georgia respectively.
At AFCON, The Flames draw most of their players from the domestic Super League (Ernest Kakhobwe, Stanley Sanudi, Gomezgani Chirwa, Kalima, Thom, William Thole, Chikoti Chirwa, Chimwemwe Idana, Micium Mhone, Yamikani Chester), Mozambique (John Banda), Tanzania (Peter Banda), Ethiopia (Robin Ngalande), Sudan (Gerald Phiri Junior) and South Africa (Khuda Muyaba, Chembezi Denis, Richard Mbulu, Gabadinho Mhango, Mzava).