Football Association of Malawi (FAM) and FDH Bank have announced the dates for different rounds of the inaugural FDH Bank Cup competition.
The competition, which was scheduled to kick off last year, was delayed to 2021 after football was suspended by Malawi Government due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
On Tuesday, the country’s soccer governing body had a joint media briefing with FDH Bank where dates for the kickoff of the MK90 million competition were announced.
The cup will be participated by all the 16 teams from the elite league and 62 teams from the regional associations.
General Secretary of the Association Alfred Gunda said the competition will kick off on 29th May, 2021 with preliminary games from the regional associations.
“The draw for the regional associations will take place from 18th May to 19th May 2021. Then the teams will get into action from 29th May to 13th June. We will conduct the national draw from 9th June, with the round of 32 kicking off from 19th June to 20th June.”
“The round of 16 will be played from 24th July to 25th July and the Quarterfinals are set for 7th August to 8th August 2021, with the semifinals on 21st to 22nd August and the finals on 25th September 2021,” said Gunda.
The Bank’s Marketing Manager Leonard Chimchere said he was very excited to finally announce dates for the competition, eighteen months after unveiling it.
“Very excited with the announcement of the kickoff dates. This is coming at a time when we are still celebrating The Flames’s success and coming up with the dates will just put an icing on the cake. We are also very excited to be part of history as the competition will help to identify talent and give an opportunity to the players especially in the regional leagues to showcase their talent,” he said.
Format of The Competition
62 teams from the three regional associations will compete in the inaugural tournament. The Southern Region Football League will be represented by 20 teams, with 24 teams from the Central Region Football Association whilst the Northern Region Football Association will have 14 representatives.
The 16 successful teams will then go into the national draw with thr 16 elite clubs from the top flight league. Teams that will finish the first round of the 2020/21 TNM Super League in the top eight will be seeded.
Incentives
FDH Bank will award the winner MK25 million, with the runners up walking away with MK8 million whilst the semifinalists and quarterfinalists will be rewarded MK2 million and MK1 million respectively.
The Bank will also give each qualification teams from Regional Leagues MK500 000 and two match balls.
The sponsors will also dress all the semifinalists of the competition.
Individual accolades
Man of the match from the quarterfinal stage, golden gloves winner and player of the tournament will be rewarded with MK200, 000 each whilst man of the match will walk away with MK50 000.
There will also be FDH Bank Cup discovery which FAM will determine his prize.
media accolades
The best radio station that will cover the tournament will be given MK200 000 whilst the best reporter will walk away with the same amount of money.
The best TV Reporter and Online Reporter will also be awarded MK200 000, with the best three reporters from the community radio being rewarded MK75 000 each.
The competition promises to produce mouthwatering entertainment, while giving the tier clubs a chance to showcase their players and host bigger clubs at latter stages of the tournament.
FDH Bank Cup will be played from May to September 2021.
