* Participating for the first time, Nyasa Big Bullets have been paired against Creck Sporting as second game
* The objective of the pre-season tournament is to create a platform for selected TNM Super League clubs to prepare well for upcoming season
By Duncan Mlanjira
Mighty Tigers have been paired against Ekhaya FC as the opening match of the Sapitwa 4 Football-Season 3 tournament at the traditional venue, Mulanje Park on Saturday, March 22.
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Interestingly, the two teams will be up against each other in their opening match of the TNM Super League 2025 title campaign to be played on April 6 at Kamuzu Stadium.
Another enthralling package of the Sapitwa 4 Football-Season 3 is the participation of Nyasa Big Bullets for the first time, who have been drawn against Creck Sporting in the second match set for 15h00 after the first to be played from 12h30.
Both matches, as well as the other two to be played the next day to determine the champions, runners-up and 3rd-place, will be covered live exclusively on MBC TV, MBC TV 2 On-the-GO and MBC Radio 2 FM.
The objective of the much-anticipated pre-season tournament is to create a platform for selected TNM Super League clubs to prepare well for upcoming season.
The competition follows two successful editions which took place in 2023 and 2024 that was both won by Bangwe All Stars, who got relegated from the top flight league in the 2024 season.
As the most anticipated pre-season football tournament in Malawi, Nyasa Big Bullets are set to add glamour for the Season 3 while Ekhaya FC, champions of the Southern Region Football League 2024, have just been promoted into the TNM Super League — thus the Sapitwa 4 Football will assist the debutantes to prepare well for upcoming Malawi 2025 football season.
This is one of the tournament’s objectives, whose others are to give a chance to football supporters to watch pre-season soccer matches and to promote Mulanje District as a hot tourism destination.
The format of this Season 3 first involved the draw that took place yesterday live on MBC TV that identified opponents of the first and second matches on Saturday and also determined the teams to be the ‘home’ side.
The two winning teams on Saturday will play the second match on Sunday as the final while losers will play the first match to determine 3rd place.
Ekhaya FC
And to encourage teams to score more goals, the score draw will earn 3 points; a goalless draw earns 2 points and another fascinating aspect — since fans love penalties — each game will have penalty shoot-out to increase more excitement and uniqueness of the matches.
The winner of the penalty shoot-out will accumulate a bonus 1 point — thus 4 points for a straight win, 3 points for a score draw, 2 points for a goalless draw.
The Sapitwa 4 was initiated by Super League of Malawi (SULOM) executive member, Chimwemwe Nyirenda, whose inaugural partipants were Dedza Dynamos, Mighty Tigers, Red Lions and the eventual champions Bangwe All Stars.
Chimwemwe Nyirenda
The second edition took place in 2024 had Bangwe All Stars defending the title against Mighty Tigers, Dedza Dynamos and Mulanje Park’s host team, FOMO FC.
The 2024 season was FOMO FC’s debut appearance in the TNM Super League, but were relegated when they ended on 14th position while Bangwe finished 15th.
Nyasa Big Bullets finished the season on 3rd place; Creck Sporting on 6th while Mighty Tigers were 12th and for being in the top eight, Nyasa Big Bullets and Creck Sporting earn their place for the Airtel Top 8 2025.
Meanwhile, Nyasa Big Bullets — who won the TNM Super League for five consecutive season up to 2023, open the 2025 title campaign against the 2024 champions, Silver Strikers on April 6 while Creck Sporting will face Dedza Dynamos.
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