The preliminary draw for the Castel Challenge Cup competition in the Southern Region was conducted by sponsors, Castel Malawi Limited and the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) at Mpira Palace on Monday.
The preliminary phase was divided into two groups, with teams competing at the district level to determine a district champion to qualify for the national championship.
31 teams from the Southern Region Football Association and 448 from the regional’s districts qualified for the preliminary phase where the best performers will join the sixteen TNM Super League teams to battle it out for the national championship.
Speaking to the media after the draw, Castel Malawi’s Head of Marketing Lavern Chitakata expressed optimism of having a great season more than what was experienced in the first edition of the competition.
“From what we have learned from last, we are aiming at growing the game even bigger. As announced, we are going to launch this edition in Mponela. It is another remote area, but, we are trying to reach out to more regions and more districts. We will also have another kickoff here in the South and the other one in the North. So as much as we are kicking off this weekend, there are two more games that we are kicking off in all the regions to make sure that people understand that we have come into the regions and we are moving forward,” she said.
Chairman of the Southern Region Football Association, Raphael Humba, promised fireworks from his teams in this competition.
“Firstly, we are very grateful to Castel Malawi for bringing back the competition. We are expecting a lot from our teams and we are hoping to achieve more than what we achieved last season. We had Lipulumundu FC that faced FCB Nyasa Big Bullets at the national level and this season, we are looking past the Round of 64. With an improved package, we are expecting our teams to work hard and achieve more,” he said.
Similar draws were held in the Central and Northern Region respectively. The competition is sponsored to the tune of MK 400 Million.
The draw in detail
Play-offs
1. Kababa Academy vs Destiny FC
Round 1
1. Immigration FC vs Superfert
2. Chilomoni FC vs Soccer Rangers
3. Zomba Airbase vs Mapira Stars
4. Ntopwa FC vs Thondwe FC
5. Kababa Academy/Destiny FC vs Balaka FC
6. MMF Marine vs Nsanje United
7. Lipulumundu FC vs Mwanza Stars
8. Chilobwe United vs Namikango Mission
9. QPL Stars vs MUBAS
10. Becks Academy vs Zingwangwa United
Round 2
1. Cobbe Barracks vs
Chilomoni FC/Soccer
Rangers
2 Ndirande Stars vs Ntaja Rangers
3. Immigration/Superfert vs Ntopwa FC/Thondwe FC
4. Nyambadwe United vs Ntaja United
5. Red Lions vs Changalume Barracks
6. Kababa Academy/Destiny
FC /Balaka FC vs
Lipulumundu FC/
Mwanza Stars
7. Mangochi All Stars vs
Becks
Academy/Zingwangwa
United
8. QPL Stars/MUBAS vs
Chilobwe
United/Namikango
Mission
9. The Boys vs Ekhaya FC
10 MMF Marine/Nsanje United vs
Zomba Airbase/Mapira
Stars
Round 3
1 Winner Match 10 Winner Match 7
2 Winner Match 8 Winner Match 3
3 Winner Match 4 Winner Match 2
4 Winner Match 9 Winner Match 6
5 Winner Match 1 Winner Match 5
