Malawi claim they were denied a training ground for two days leading up to Thursday's African Nations Cup finals defeat to hosts Angola in Luanda.
Following the 2-0 loss in the Group A match, coach Kinnah Phiri said a protest had been handed to the tournament organisers, the Confederation of African Football.
"We find it very strange that in this competition a team cannot be found a ground to train," he said. "We are very disappointed because we feel that either the organising committee or the Angolan federation were working towards pushing Angola into the quarter-finals.
"Three times we went to a ground and found others using the pitch. We asked them to leave but they refused. We didn't have a session over the last two days before the game."
Malawi, who beat Algeria 3-0 in their opening match, are second in the standings and are likely to qualify for the quarter-finals if they beat Mali in their last game in Cabinda on Monday.