Kalisto Pasuwa, with 129 wins from 224 games in all competitions, has overseen one of the most successful periods ever in the history of FCB Nyasa Big Bullets.
As he bows out of the club after an incredible six years in charge, he can look back in satisfaction at steering one of the most successful periods ever in the history of the club.
Since taking over as the Bullets coach in 2018, Pasuwa, formerly of Dynamos FC and Zimbabwe National Football Team, has won 16 trophies, five TNM Super League titles, three Airtel Top 8 Cups, two FDH Bank Cups, One Castel Cup and four Charity Shield titles, as he became the first coach in history to guide the People’s Team to the unprecedented quadruple in the 2023 season.
This season, his final season at Bullets, he won the Airtel Cup and the Charity Shield. However, his team performed poorly in the league to surrender the title to Silver Strikers under Peter Mponda, a man bound to replace him at Bullets.
Let’s take a look at his incredible years at Bullets:
2018
Pasuwa joined the team as the head coach with eight games to go before the end of that season. He replaced Rodgers Yasin and Eliya Kananji, who was fired for failing to beat Masters Security FC in the then-Carlsberg Cup.
He was in charge of the team’s last eight matches as he won seven and drew once. Bullets ended up winning the league. However, this season couldn’t be counted as his, but the moment he started his project, Bullets dominated the Malawian football.
2019
Bullets started the season with a bang, winning the Charity Shield at the expense of Mighty Mukuru Wanderers, whom they defeated 1-0, Masters Security and Blue Eagles FC.
However, he failed to make a mark on the Fisd Cup after his team was knocked out by Silver Strikers in the quarter-finals at Bingu National Stadium.
But, he brilliantly won the championship. For almost four months, Bullets was chasing Wanderers in the title race. At some point, the gap between the two teams was 11 points, with Wanderers sitting comfortably at the top of the standings.
The Zimbabwean did his magic as he beat the Nomads to the title. Bullets dramatically leapfrogged Wanderers. The Lali Lubani boys were in Lilongwe playing against Kamuzu Barracks. They lost 2-0. On the same day, Bullets hosted Mzuzu University at Kamuzu Stadium.
The match was 2-2 up until the last minute of the additional time when Chimwemwe Idana scored the winning goal that took Bullets to the top.
From that day, Wanderers knew that they had lost the title to their rivals who, when on top, don’t easily surrender their position to fellow contenders. True to Wanderers’ fears, Bullets went on to beat KB, Silver, and Civil Service United before winning the title on the final day with a comfortable 2-0 win over TN Stars.
2020/21
It was a season that started very late due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Pasuwa’s charges began their title defence in October of that year.
It took five solid weeks for Bullets players to regain full fitness, and when they did, they collected points to send a clear message to would-be contenders that the People’s Team meant business.
In that season, they won the title and also the Airtel Top 8 Cup. But, Bullets, for the second time in Pasuwa’s era, were eliminated by Silver in the FDH Bank Cup.
However, this was a good season for Bullets who won their first double since the 2014 season in which they won both the league and Carlsberg Cup.
2022
It was another successful season for Bullets as they won the Charity Shield, the league, and the FDH Bank Cup. They couldn’t retain the Airtel Top 8 Cup as they lost to Wanderers 5-4 on penalties. Had they won that match, Pasuwa would have become the first coach in a decade to win a treble.
However, Bullets went on their longest winning run in the league with 22 wins en route to their 16th league title and fourth in a row
2023
This was a season that Pasuwa conquered. Before this, he lost Chimwemwe Idana, his playmaker, and many had ruled Bullets out of the title contention because the midfielder played a significant role in Bullets’s success before his departure to Silver Strikers after failing to agree to a new contract.
But Bullets, against all odds, sent a statement of intent by winning the Charity Shield after they beat Wanderers 2-1 at BNS.
This was a clear message to Wanderers and Silver that Bullets, despite losing a key man, were fully in it.
Pasuwa’s men, who, just like the 2019 season, had the task of chasing Silver Strikers, who were 11 points clear of the People’s Team in the title race.
When Bullets moved to the top, both Silver and Wanderers were involved in the race, and at some point, the gap was just three points.
Bullets’ next assignment was away to Karonga United in a must-win game. Pasuwa’s men rose to the occasion to win 1-0 to only need a point in their last game against Silver to retain the title.
In the final match, they drew 1-1 to win their 17th league title. By then, they had already won the FDH Bank Cup and were already in the finals of the Airtel Top 8 Cup.
Pasuwa’s men had to switch their attention to the inaugural Castel Challenge Cup. They made sure to reach the finals of the competition, which saw them beating Silver 4-2 on penalties to complete their treble.
Up next was Mafco in the Airtel Top 8 Cup final at Kamuzu Stadium. During a second cup meeting between the two teams in the same season, Pasuwa knew that Mafco was a tough customer and a threat to his quadruple ambitions.
True to his fears, Mafco came hard and almost spoiled the party. But, Lanjesi Nkhoma scored with 12 minutes left to play to inspire Bullets to their first-ever quadruple in their most successful season.
2024
This was a season to forget for Pasuwa. He lost three of the four trophies that he won in the 2023 season. To make matters worse, his side performed poorly in the league, registering 14 wins and 13 draws to finish third in the table, 12 points behind the Central Bankers who won the title for the first time in eleven years.
He also lost the FDH Bank Cup to a Premier Division side, Blue Eagles, on penalties. Bullets also lost 4-1 to Mzuzu City Hammers on penalties in the Castel Challenge Cup semis at Kamuzu Stadium. This summed up a frustrating season for Pasuwa in his final season with the most successful club in Malawi.
It was a season in which he only retained the Airtel Top 8 Cup and the Charity Shield Cup.
But despite this setback, he achieved what any other coach has never achieved before his six-year tenure.
He is the only head coach who trusted youngsters from Bullets’s reserve team. In his six-year stay with the club, he promoted more than 15 players who formed the backbone of the team’s success.
The likes of Idana, Patrick Mwaungulu, Yankho Singo, Lanjesi Nkhoma, Clever Mkungula, Nickson Nyasulu, Stanley Billiat, Ernest Petro, Yamikani Mologeni, Chikumbutso Salima, Thomson Magombo, and Hassan Kajoke, will forever be grateful to Pasuwa for allowing them of a lifetime to play for Malawi’s biggest football club.
There was a period in which the club won seven league titles in a row where Nsanzurwimo Ramadhan, Gilbert Chirwa, and Kinnah Phiri were in charge, but Pasuwa’s domestic record supersedes the trio’s record.
He is a coach who knew exactly what he was doing. He dominated not because of sheer luck but because he was a tactical genius.
Yes, he didn’t do well in the CAF Champions League for various reasons, including the inability of Bullets to spend on quality players, but domestically, he leaves with a legacy that even his predecessor will have big boots to fill.
Hats off to Pasuwa; you came, you saw, and you conquered.
