Castel Malawi’s Ibongetse Cup officially kick-offs on Saturday in Rumphi

* It marks the renaissance of the partnership between beer and football in Malawi at an elevated level

* The tournament’s goal is to develop football using a bottom-up approach

* Whereby we will unearth the country’s football talent from rural areas that don’t have the opportunity

By Duncan Mlanjira

The 2023 edition of the K320 million Castel Challenge Cup kicks off on Saturday with the official launch matches scheduled for Rumphi Stadium between the district’s rookies, Vongo FC and Thaboland FC from 12:00pm — and thereafter regional sides Chipolopolo FC aiming their bullets at Songwe Border FC from 2:30pm.

Castel Malawi Commercial Director, Nelson Zotto said as sponsor, they are looking forward to an exciting tournament where football will be spiced up with music, and beer tours nationwide at selected bar locations and match venues.

“The moment we have been waiting for is here,” he is quoted as saying in a statement, “The kick-off of the official fixtures at Rumphi Stadium marks the renaissance of the partnership between beer and football in Malawi at an elevated level.

“The tournament’s goal is to develop football using a bottom-up approach, whereby we will unearth the country’s football talent from rural areas that don’t have the opportunity. We’ll elevate football at the national and international level.”

The Commercial Director further said the Castel brand represents more than beer and spirits and is geared to play a leading role in the country’s socio-economic development through job creation that the Castel Cup will spur.

“We have a responsibility towards development of Malawi, and this is one of the ways Castel will contribute. Malawians should look forward to enjoying our quality and iconic beers and spirits.

“We are coming to excite people to ensure that every pub, eatery, and joint is part of the Castel Cup moments,” he said, adding that Malawi stands to benefit a lot from the tournament as the format augurs well with pillars of football development worldwide.

The kick-off in Rumphi highlights Castel’s inclusivity in applying the key events of the cup across all the regions in the country.

“As a brand for all, we appreciate the value of inclusivity in uniting the country,” Zotto said. “As a matter of fact, all the regions will have key events around the cup.

“We made the big announcement in Blantyre, thereafter, the official launch took place in Lilongwe and this weekend Rumphi Stadium is where we take it off.”

Acknowledging the impact of Castel Cup, competition director for Football Association of Malawi (FAM), Gomezgani Zakazaka the “competition offers the district teams and players the biggest platform to rub shoulders with the elite teams”.

“We expect the district and regional teams to give Super League teams a good run for their money by the time of the national phase in September.”

Castel Challenge Cup supports the brewer’s key pillars of being more than a manufacturer of beer and spirits but always finding ways of connecting with people socially, culturally, and economically.

Castel teams have in the days before the official kick-off being conducting beer tours in the northern and central region at selected pubs.

Meanwhile, FAM has released the format of the Ibongetse Challenge to be played for six months between July and December 2023.

The participation is by 16 TNM Super League teams and 102 from regional leagues — 36 from the South, 29 from the Centre and 37 from the North and 816 district teams (344 from the South, 261 from the Centre and 209 from the North).

It will be played first in district preliminary phase whose champion shall  qualify for the national championship. It will be played in two phases:

1. Zonal Round Robin Phase: In the first phase the teams will be dived into groups depending on number of teams registered and number of Zones in a particular district. In this phase teams will play on round robin;

2. District Knockout Phase: After the round robin each district will come up with eight teams to play in the knockout phase from quarterfinals to determine the district champion.

The regional leagues preliminary phase will have a knockout format to come up with 17 teams that will qualify for the national phase as follows: South 6, Centre 5 and North 6 (numbers determined by the number of teams registered in each Region).

The draw procedure is that the Southern Region will have three rounds of matches to determine the six teams that will qualify for the national phase.

Round 1

From the 36 participating teams, the top four teams in each of the two Premier Division streams and the top two teams in each of the Division One streams as per the log tables of Monday July 17, 2023, will be seeded from round one (total of 12).

This means this round will comprise of the remaining 24 teams who will play in a knockout format to identify the 12 teams that will qualify for the second round.

Round 2

The 12 seeded teams will join the 12 winners from round 1 and the 24 teams will battle it out for the 12 slots in the third round.

Round 3

The 12 winners from Round 2 will battle it out for the 6 slots in the national phase.

Central Region 

The Centre will have three rounds of matches to determine the five teams for the national phase:

Round 1

From the 29 participating teams, the top three teams in each of the three Premier Division streams and top two teams based on the aggregate points accumulated in each of the three Division One streams as per the log table of Monday July 17, 2023, will be seeded from round 1 (total of 11 teams).

This means this round will comprise of the remaining 18 teams who will play in a knockout format to identify the Nine teams that will qualify for the second round.

Round 2

The 11 seeded teams will join Nine winners from round 1 and the 20 teams will battle it out for the 10 slots in the third round.

Round 3

The 10 winners from Round 2 will battle it out for the 5 slots in the national phase.

Northern Region 

The North will have three rounds of matches to determine the 6 teams for the national phase;

Round 1

From the 37 participating teams, the number one teams in each of the four Premier Division streams and top teams in each of the three Division One streams as per the log tables of Monday July 17, 2023, (7 in total) will be seeded from round one.

This means this round will comprise of the remaining 30 teams who will play in a knockout format to identify the 15 teams that will qualify for the second round.

Round 2

The 7 seeded teams will join the 15 winners from round 1 and the 22 teams will battle 11 slots in the third round.

Round 3

The 11 winners from Round 2 plus the overall best loser (12 teams) will fight for the 6 lost in the national phase.