World Cup Qualifiers: Equatorial Guinea in no show for Malawi match

Equatorial Guinea have failed to show up for their away 2026 Fifa World Cup qualifying match in Malawi on Thursday.

The West Africans were scheduled to take on the Flames at Bingu National Stadium for the Group H game.

However, the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has confirmed that Equatorial Guinea have not travelled to Lilongwe.

"The Football Association of Malawi (FAM) wishes to inform the general public that the Fifa World Cup qualifier between Malawi and Equatorial Guinea, which was scheduled for today at 18:00hrs at Bingu National Stadium, will not take place due to unforeseen travel complications affecting the visiting team," FAM's statement reads.

The Malawi FA has since resolved to have the Flames play a training match.

African #WCQ action on your to-do list for the day. 👇 pic.twitter.com/6alRSA8JCR

— CAF_Online (@CAF_Online) October 9, 2025

The Flames, as Malawi are affectionately called, bounced back from a string of defeats in Group H to beat Namibia 2-1 and share the spoils at 2-2 with Liberia last months.

The four points collected from the two games revived a flicker of hope for the Flames’ World Cup bid via play-offs.

Malawians have some prospects of competing for the play-offs for the World Cup.

Malawi sit in third place with 10 points at par with Equatorial Guinea, one point and four points behind Liberia, Namibia respectively. Already qualified Tunisia lead the table with 22 points while Sao Tome Principe occupy the bottom seat without a point in eight games.