The Malawi football season will officially open today with the annual curtain-raiser, the NBS Bank FAM Charity Shield match set to take center stage this afternoon at Bingu National Stadium.
Defending TNM Super League and FDH Bank Champions, FCB Nyasa Big Bullets will square off with Airtel Top 8 Cup Champions, Mighty Mukuru Wanderers in what is expected to be a very entertaining affair.
Coach Kalisto Pasuwa and Mark Harrison will be looking to test some of the new players out, but Bullets will be without Hassan Kajoke, Precious Sambani and Gomezgani Chirwa who are injured whilst Wanderers will have every player on board for this grudge battle.
The first official derby between the two giants took place in 1968 in the Blantyre District Football League in which James Mkwanda scored the only goal to inspire Wanderers to a hard-fought 1-0 victory over their rivals and that was the beginning of the biggest rivalries in Malawian football which has experienced glory and agony amongst the followers of these two great clubs.
But this will be the fourth meeting between the two giants in the Charity Shield since its inception in 2016.
Since its launch, Bullets have been dominant over the Lali Lubani blue (now orange) camp. In total, The People’s Team and the Nomads have met three times in this competition, and in all the encounters, it was the red side of the city that conquered.
Pasuwa’s charges are the only side to have won the Shield for five consecutive seasons and the only season they missed out was in 2020/21 due to the Covid-19 pandemic that put all the sporting activities on hold.
But going into Sunday’s encounter, Wanderers will have good memories of playing a cup game against their rivals in Lilongwe almost four months after the Lali Lubani boys recorded their first ever win over Bullets in the Airtel Top 8 Cup, beating them 5-4 on penalties following a goalless regulation time.
The word in taxi ranks, minibuses, workplaces, streets and every corner of the country is all about the forthcoming mouthwatering tie and the moment that the fans have all been waiting for is finally a few hours away.
This match promises to be a humdinger as Bullets will be looking to defend the Shield and send a statement of intent to would be title contenders whilst the Nomads hope to win it for the first time in history.
Previous meetings in Charity Shield
The first ever meeting between the two sides in the competition was played in Lilongwe in 2016.
Bullets, then managed by Eliya Kananji, qualified as League Champions while Wanderers made it as National Cup (Carlsberg Cup) Champions.
The People’s Team won the match 2-0 with goals from Muhamad Sulumba and Chiukepo Msowoya.
In 2018, the format was changed as the competition turned into a two-day event which involved four teams who were previous season’s Champions of the elite competitions namely the Airtel Top 8, The FISD Challenge Cup and the TNM Super League as well as the Super League Runners Up.
Silver Strikers as Airtel Top 8 champions made their debut in the competition while Bullets as Carlsberg Cup Champions, Kamuzu Barracks as FISD Cup winners and Mighty Mukuru Wanderers (then as Be Forward Wanderers) as Super League Championship also qualified for the competition.
The competition was hosted at Bingu National Stadium for the first time.
In the semifinal one, Bullets got the better of KB with a 2-1 victory courtesy of a strike each from Bright Munthali and Chiukepo Msowoya whilst Ndaona Daisi scored for the Capital City based Soldiers.
In the semifinal two, The Central Bankers defeated Wanderers 2-0 through Mphatso Phillimon and Timothy Chitedze to set up a final showdown against Bullets.
The Blantyre based giants run riot with a comfortable 3-0 win over the Area 47 side courtesy of a Chiukepo Msowoya’ brace and a lone strike from Precious Phiri.
Bullets continued to dominate the FAM Charity Shield when they won it for the fourth time in a row during the two-day event at the Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre in April 2019.
Bullets won it in style as they defeated their arch rivals Wanderers 1-0 courtesy of a Chiukepo Msowoya strike in the first Blantyre derby of the season as the Season opener event was hosted at the Kamuzu Stadium for the first time.
All three previous events were held in Lilongwe.
The Shield brought together four teams, TNM Super League Champions Nyasa Big Bullets, Fisd Challenge Cup winners Be Forward Wanderers, Airtel Top 8 Tournament champions Blue Eagles and Carlsberg Cup victors Masters Security FC.
In the semifinals, Wanderers saw off Masters security 4-0 in the semifinals while Bullets beat Blue Eagles 2-1.
Eagles needed penalties to edge Masters in the match for third place while a Chiukepo Msowoya’s lone strike in the final gave Bullets the much-needed boost ahead of the season kick off.
Bullets’ Charity Shield success
The People’s Team have won it five times in a row since its launch in 2016. They defeated Wanderers 2-0 in the first year and got the better of KB in the second year with a 3-1 victory at Civo Stadium.
In 2018, Bullets hammered The Central Bankers 3-1 before another derby victory in 2019 at Kamuzu Stadium.
There was no Charity Shield event in 2020/21 due to the Covid-19 pandemic that put all the sporting activities on hold.
However, the competition returned in 2022 in which Bullets faced Silver Strikers at Kamuzu Stadium.
A lone strike from Hadji Wali won the match for The People’s Team.
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