7-time FAM-NBS Bank Charity Shield champions Nyasa Big Bullets out of the picture for 2025 edition

NBS Bank’s Temwani Simwaka and FAM president Fleetwood Haiya

* To be competed for by TNM Super League champions Silver Striker against their runners-up and Castel Challenge Cup winners Mighty Wanderers

* To be played this Saturday at the Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe with NBS Bank increasing sponsorship from K40 million to K60 million

Maravi Express

The 2025 season opener, the NBS Bank-FAM Charity Shield, will be between TNM Super League 2024 champions, Silver Striker against their runners-up and Castel Challenge Cup 2024 title holders, Mighty Wanderers this Saturday at the Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe — leaving 7-time winners Nyasa Big Bullets out of the picture.

Nyasa Big Bullets won their 7th FAM-NBS Bank Charity Shield beating the then their league runners-up Silver Strikers 7-6 after a pulsating 0-0 draw in regulation time.

The FAM Charity Shield, played between champions and runners-up of the TNM Super League, kicks off every football season since 2016 as FAM’s flagship corporate social responsibility (CSR) program that mobilises the Beautiful Game’s fraternity and the public to raise funds and awareness towards a charitable cause of national significance.

Meanwhile, NBS Bank has increased sponsorship for 2025 from K40 million to K60 million and at a symbolic cheque presentation to Football Association of Malawi (FAM) at Sunbird Mount Soche in Blantyre, the bank’s deputy Chief Executive Officer,  Temwani Simwaka said said the 50% increment affirms their commitment towards impacting more lives in communities through football.

“At NBS Bank, we believe in going beyond banking,” Simwaka is quoted as saying by Fam.mw. “We believe in showing up for our communities, in being present where it matters most and in leading with heart.

“That is why this year, under the theme; ‘We Care A Little More’, we are reaffirming our commitment to the people of Malawi not just through words, but action. Over the years, the Charity Shield has evolved into a powerful platform for social impact and we are proud to share the journey we have taken together.”

Fam.mw quotes FAM president Fleetwood Haiya as saying the association appreciates the strong partnership they have with NBS Bank: “I am proud that the new partnership signed in 2024 for three years uses football as a tool for positive change.

“I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the leadership of NBS Bank for their unwavering support and commitment, even in these challenging economic times.”

Haiya added that it is sweet news because the investment serves a greater purpose – a cause that extends beyond football stakeholders to touch the lives of Malawians across the country.

“It reaches the communities that mold, shape and inspire future football stars. As an old African proverb says; ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ — allow me to rephrase this and say ‘It takes NBS Bank and FAM to impact the community through football’.

This is the fourth time the bank is supporting the annual event that marks the start of the new season and raises funds for charitable causes. For the 2023 edition, whose proceeds were from the match between Nyasa Big Bullets and Mighty Wanderers as well as from Flames Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier against Egypt, raised a total of K30.1 million that was used to construct four houses at a cost of K23 million for families which were left homeless due to effects of Cyclone Freddy in Ntauchira Village in Chiradzulu District.

As part of the package, FAM also presented K50,000 cash to each family and household items such as mattresses, blankets, sugar, bags of maize flour and salt worth K2 million.

In 2023, FAM and NBS Bank also made a distribution of cash worth K5.5 million to former Flames legends and other football stakeholders who were affected by Cyclone Freddy.

In 2022, FAM, NBS Bank and Malawi Red Cross Society delivered relief food items to Cyclone Ana flood victims in Chikwawa from the K10.3 million proceeds realised from the Charity Shield.

The food items, that included maize flour, nutritious beef soya pieces and ready-mix Likuni Phala with sugar, were distributed to 986 households that represented 4,930 people, who were in four relief camps.

The charity has also reached out to Malawi Blood Transfusion Services (2016); medical equipment for Kamuzu Central Hospital (2017); Braille embosser for Ekwendeni School for the Blind and various physiotherapy and medical equipment to Kachere Rehabilitation Centre (2018).

The 2019 edition reached out to  people living with albinism under the theme ‘One Love – Stop the Killings’, which was through sponsorship from Ecobank — playing an advocacy role against all manner of barbaric acts targeting people living with albinism which reached crisis levels. 

The proceeds of the Ecobank Charity Shield were used to procure a rescue vehicle which was donated to Association of People with Albinism in Malawi.