Malawi’s top clubs, Nyasa Big Bullets, Blue Eagles, Silver Strikers and Be Forward Wanderers are set to participate in the fourth edition of the Charity Shield tournament next month.
The 2020 Ecobank FAM Charity Shield will be played on the weekend of 4th and 5th April at a venue yet to be announced by the Football Association of Malawi (FAM).
The unveiling ceremony of the 2020 edition took place at the bank’s headquarters in Blantyre where the FA President Walter Nyamilandu was in attendance.
This year’s sponsorship has been raised from K12 million to K18 million and will go towards education of the survivors of the Cyclone Idai that hit some parts of the country in 2019.
The bank’s head of marketing Cecilia Chanza said her company decided to continue partnering FAM upon realizing how the proceeds from last year’s competition made a great impact on lives of people living with albinism.
“We are back to sponsor the 2020 Ecobank FAM Charity Shield after realizing that the proceeds from last year’s tournament had a massive impact on people with albinism who were the main beneficiaries.
“We are very grateful to the people who supported the initiative and the teams that participated last year,” she said.
On his part, Nyamilandu hailed Ecobank for the continuous support.
“Last year we had a very successful event of the Charity Shield when we partnered with people with albinism. We were able to identify sponsors because all along we never had had a sponsor and we secured a partnership with Ecobank who pumped in K12 million which helped all participating teams to come on board.
“This year, they have increased the sponsorship to K18 million and I have no doubt that the increase will make the event bigger and better,” he told the media.
On the decision to target the education sector, the FA boss said his association wanted to do something different this time around.
“At the moment, the most topical issue is the disaster and you know there are several disasters happening in Malawi and the Lower Shire was the mostly affected as it was hit by the Cyclone Idai last year and we thought we should partner with the people in the Lower Shire particularly in the sector of education.
“So we have identified a site in Chikwawa in Malija Village where the children are not able to access school because where they were displaced they have to travel quite a long distance and that’s the reason why we are partnering them to make a positive impact,” he concluded.
In the opening fixture, Bullets, who are the most successful side in the competition since its inception will play Wanderers while Silver Strikers will entertain Eagles in the second match.
