Nyasa Big Bullets Reserves will start their title defence in the ThumbsUp Southern Region Football Association (SRFA) Premier Division with a home fixture against Ntopwa FC at Kamuzu Stadium on Sunday.
Twenty two teams will compete in the 2022 SRFA Premier Division League campaign, which will have two groups of eleven teams each.
Bullets Reserves are in Group 2 alongside Changalume Barracks, Ntopwa FC, Nyasa United, Polytechnic, Ntaja United, Neno Giants, Wizards FC, Immigration FC, Mangochi United and MDF Marine.
This will be the first meeting between the two teams in a competitive match since 2018 when the young Bullets won the championship, but could not earn promotion into the elite league as rules do not allow two teams from the same entity to play in the same competition, hence second-placed Ntopwa were promoted.
According to SRFA, four teams from each group will qualify to the last eight where they will play each other to find the last four teams in the league.
“Twenty two teams will take part in the league from which each two groups will have eleven teams. Eight teams will emerge from the two groups to play each other for a place in the semifinals,” disclosed the SRFA through chairman, Raphael Humba.
Bullets Reserves won the regional league championship again in 2021 after hammering Sable Farming 3-1, but it was the Chiradzulu-based second-placed side that earned promotion to the TNM Super League.
