* The Zambia Premier League champions picked a 1-0 win against Gor Mahia FC from Kenya in opening match
* Bullets, the TNM Super League 2023 champions, were initially invited as guest nation
By Duncan Mlanjira
Nyasa Big Bullets CAF Champions League 2024 opponents, Red Arrows of Zambia are in the thick of international exposure at CECAFA Kagame Cup 2024 as a guest national club ahead of the two legged first preliminary round tie to take place between August 16-25.
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The draw that was held yesterday at the CAF Headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, pits Nyasa Big Bullets to play home for the first leg at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe and the second a week later away at Njoloma Stadium in Lusaka.
The winner between the two neighbouring domestic league champions will proceed to second prelimary round where they will face DRC champions TP Mazembe, who ousted Nyasa Big Bullets in the second preliminary round of the 2023 edition — in which coach Kalisto Pasuwa’s charges booted out Dragon FC of Equatorial Guinea in the first preliminary round.
A report by Zambian online publication, ZamFoot, says Red Arrows are set to dig deep and go far in the CAF Champions League 2024 and have reinforced themselves with new signings, midfielder Godfrey Ngwenya from Power Dynamos and striker Angel Lubamba from Nchanga Rangers while defender Zephenia Phiri has been recalled from his loan spell at Prisons Leopards FC.
ZamFoot further quotes club president, Colonel Moses Kambimbi as saying they will continue to reinforce as they are already in negotiations for more players.
At the CECAFA Kagame Cup in Tanzania, Red Arrows picked a 1-0 win against Gor Mahia FC from Kenya and according to CECAFA website, Nyasa Big Bullets were planned to be invited at the central and east regional club championship alongside DRC’s TP Mazembe and Red Arrows to join 13 other teams from the CECAFA Zone.
The competition was earlier planned to take place from July 20 to August 4 but was rescheduled so that it kicks-off earlier to accommodate the busy CAF club calendar.
“This competition will help our teams in the Zone prepare better in the pre-season ahead of the 2024/2025 CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup which start in August,” CECAFA executive director John Auka Gecheo is quoted as saying, adding that having top sides from DR Congo, Malawi and Zambia was to spice-up the club competition and give CECAFA teams a real test.
Meanwhile, in his reaction to the draw, Bullets coach Pasuwa confessed on the club media, nyasabigbullets.com that as “non-ranked team” on the continent, they can’t underate any team but they just need to prepare well for them to do well.
Coach Pasuwa
“This is the Champions League — any small mistake that you make in the Champions League, you are punished,” he said, adding that having played in the continental championship before, they have learnt a lot of lessons which need to be solved.
He added that against TP Mazembe in the second preliminary round, they conceded four goals in their away match inside the first 20 minutes and after conceding they started playing excellent football.
“We need to work on these areas to say what is it that makes us lose concentration in the early stages of the game,” he said. “But these are mind games that we also need to be very careful with at this level — no mistakes.”
Despite a busy schedule last season that Nyasa Big Bullets had with the participation of the CAF Champions League, in which they played four games and having to fly out twice well ahead of their away assignments, they won a historical quadruple titles — the FDH Bank Cup, the inaugural Castel Challenge Cup, the Airtel Top 8 and the TNM Super League.
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For the moment, they are 5th in the league and just last week, they qualified for the FDH Bank Cup Round of 16 after beating fellow Super League side Bangwe All Stars 5-0 — to set up a Blantyre Derby against arch rivals, Mighty Wanderers, who beat Cobbe Barracks 3-0 in the Round of 32.
Coached by Chisi Mbewe, Red Arrows won the 2023/24 Zambia Premier League in May — their third title having won in 2002 and 2022 and they have also clinched the Zambian Cup (2007), Zambian Challenge Cup (1982) — which they had been runners-up twice (1978, 1989).
This will be three 3rd CAF Champions League appearance in which they were eliminated in the second preliminary in 2005 and 2 in first preliminary (2021, 2022).
They have also participated in the CAF Confederation Cup in 3 appearances (Round of 16 in 2009), preliminary round (2012) and pre-group stage (2021).
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