Dates and venues for Nyasa Big Bullets’ 2021/22 CAF Champions League preliminary round matches against South Africa’s Amazulu FC have been confirmed.
The People’s Team will face Usuthu in the first preliminary round first leg away at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on Friday, 10 September, before the the return match at home on 18 September at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe.
This has been confirmed by the Confederations of African Football (CAF), which has released venues and dates for the continent’s biggest club competition.
Initially, there were fears that Bullets would have played the match elsewhere following a ban by CAF on Bingu National Stadium due to the condition of the pitch, forcing the Malawi national team to play its home match against Mozambique in the FIFA World Cup qualifiers at Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa.
A win for the Malawian champions against Amazulu will see Kalisto Pasuwa’s men playing Democratic Republic of Congo’s TP Mazembe in the final preliminary round before group stages.
But the first hurdle will be to overcome Ben McCarthy’s side, which finished as runners-up in the South African DStv Premier Soccer League last season.
This will be the first ever meeting between the two sides, with Bullets being the most experienced side in CAF Champions League football having reached the group stages in 2004.
Amazulu FC will be the second South African team to play Bullets in the continental tournament.
In the run up to the successful 2004 campaign, Bullets eliminated Orlando Pirates at Kamuzu Stadium with a late strike from late Dick Malidadi to end the game at 2-2, but the Malawi champions went through to the group stages on the away goal rule after losing 2-1 in the first leg away in South Africa.
In 2015, Bullets’ campaign in the continental competition was ended by Al Hilal after failing to overcome a 4-0 deficit which they suffered in the first match against the South Sudanese side.
Three years later, Bullets were eliminated in the preliminary round by Kenya’s Gor Mahia and they had to experience the same fate a year later, losing to Zimbabwe’s Platinum FC.
