Draw for preliminary phase of FDH Bank Cup 2024 set for tomorrow

* 70 teams will play for a regional championship in their respective regions to come up with 16 teams

* That will qualify for the national phase — 5 from the South, 5 from the Centre and and 6 from the North

Maravi Express

The draw for the preliminary phase of FDH Bank Cup 2024 is set for tomorrow at the Mpira Village in Blantyre that pits 70 regional leagues’ Premier Division teams — 21 from the South, 21 from the Centre and 28 from the North.

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A communication from FAM says the 70 teams will play for a regional championship in their respective regions to come up with 16 teams that will qualify for the national phase — 5 from the South, 5 from the Centre and and 6 from the North.

The qualified teams for the preliminary stage from the South are Ntaja Rangers, Nyambadwe United, Ekhaya FC, Lipulumundu FC, The Boyz, Ntopwa FC, MDF Marine FC, Mangochi All Stars, Soccer Rangers, Ntaja United, Ndirande Stars, Red Lions, Changalume Barracks, Cobbe Barracks, Immigration, Mwanza Stars, Zomba Airbase, Superfet, White Eagles, Balaka FC and Zingwangwa Utd.

For the Centre: Ekas Freight Wanderers, Chisomo Academy, Blue Eagles FC, Mitundu Baptist, Santhe Admarc, Villa FC, Simbi FC, Mchinji Boma strikers, St. Gabriel Zitha FC, Dzaleka Future, Extreme FC, Luanar FC, Wimbe United, Airborne Rangers, Leyman Panthers, Kasungu United, Armour Battalion FC, Mbadzi United, Chatoloma Admarc, Dedza Young Soccer, Ntcheu Warriors

And for the North: Jenda United, Songwe Border United, Chihame All Stars, Chizumulu United, Iponga FC, Chibavi Real Stars, Chintheche United, Eagle Strikers, Embangweni United, Simbowe Stars, Lube Masters, Ekwendeni Hardnockers, Ekwendeni United, Ekwaiwen Tafika Sports Academy, Karonga Giants, Chitipa Galaji, Chitipa White Movers, Likoma United, Chipolopolo Boyz, Thaboland FC, Mhuju FC, Chilumba Barracks, Euthin Veterans, Euthin Pirates, Sporting FC, Raiply FC, Mmbelwa Warriors and Mzuni FC.

Draw procedure

The Southern Region will have three rounds of matches to determine the five teams that will qualify for the national phase while two least ranked teams, as per the log tables of May 15, 2024 — Zingwangwa United and Soccer Rangers — will play in a play-off to find one team that will join the 19 seeded teams in Round 1.

For Round 1, the 19 seeded teams plus the playoff winners will be drawn in 10-round one matches that will produce 10 teams that will qualify for the second round.

In Round 2, the 10 winners will be drawn in five matches to produce five winners for the national phase.

The Central Region will have three rounds of matches to determine the five teams that will qualify for the national phase and also two least ranked teams, as per the log tables of May 15 — Mbadzi FC and Dzaleka Future — will play in a play-off to find one team that will join the 19 seeded teams in Round 1, who will be drawn in 10 matches that will produce 10 teams.

For Round 2, the 10 winners will be drawn in five matches to produce five winners for the national phase.

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The Northern Region will also have three rounds of matches to determine six teams that will qualify with eight least ranked teams — Iponga, Chitipa White Movers, Mzuni, Ekwendeni United, Chihame All Stars, Chizumulu, Jenda United and Euthini Pirates — who will play in a playoff to find four teams that will join the 20 seeded teams in Round 1.

In this Round 1, the 20 seeded teams plus the four winners of the playoff will be drawn in 12 matches that will produce 12 teams.

For Round 2, the 12 winners will be drawn in six matches to produce six teams that will qualify for the national phase.

According to FAM Competitions Department, the matches will be played between May 25 and June 9.

2023 champions Nyasa Big Bullets

For the 2024 edition, the FDH Bank Cup sponsorship was increased from K120 million to the tune of K150 million and in expressing her appreciation on behalf of FAM, competitions committee’s chairperson, Felister Dossi said the new package is in line with FAM’s vision of commercialising the game so that the sponsors should also gain value from football.

When announcing the increment, FDH Bank’s Senior Manager Marketing & Communication, Ronald Chimchere said they were committed to football development in Malawi — hence revising the package at the start of each season in the last three seasons.

“We are committed to developing football in Malawi, and this will be the fourth season that we will be sponsoring the FDH Bank Cup,” he said. “Initially, we signed a five-year contract and would want to fulfil our promise.

“If you may also recall, the first season was at MK90 million, and looking at the economic environment, we saw it wise to push the amount to K120 million before this new package of K150 million.

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He further expressed joy at how the 2023 season unfolded: “The main highlight for the 2023 season was Nyasa Big Bullets becoming the first team to defend the title.

“But also when you look at other aspects, it was quite an exciting season where we have seen a quite number of players coming up and one of them is the Discovery of the Tournament from Santhe Admarc.

“It was quite exciting for us because as a bank sponsoring this cup, what we want is to unearth talent at all levels so we are happy with what has happened so far and we are looking forward to the new season,” he said.

During the event, FDH Bank and FAM rewarded players for their outstanding performances in the 2023 season that had the champions Nyasa Big Bullets’ midfielder, Patrick Mwaungulu named Player of the Tournament while his teammate Hassan Kajoke won the Golden Boot award having scored four goals in the 2023 season.

Mighty Mukuru Wanderers goalkeeper William Thole won the Golden Glove award and the Discovery of the Season award went to Santhe Admarc goalkeeper, Zahaya Malithano.

FDH Bank Plc is FAM’s strong partner as it also finances the activities of the national football team, the Flames as well as investing in grassroots level by sponsoring Mayor’s Trophies.

In December, the sponsorship for the Flames was also increased to K1 billion to be spread out in the next four years — which translate to K250 million per calendar year.

The partnership with FAM to sponsor the Flames dates back to August 2016 at K60 million before being increased to K120 million in 2018 and went further up to K360 million in September 2021.

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