It’s a busy schedule for FCB Nyasa Big Bullets as the September international break comes to an end this week.
Top tier football in the country resumes on Saturday after the return of the Malawi national team from Mali where they play Burkina Faso in the 2025 AFCON qualifiers Tuesday evening.
Kalisto Pasuwa’s first team will be turning attention to the Airtel Top 8 fixture, while our women’s team are also set for a midweek league match, and the U19s will be wrapping up the first round of their youth championship campaign.
Here’s what to look out for as three of our teams will be involved in action in their respective tiers.
First Team
Following the heart-breaking 3-2 penalty shootout defeat to Blue Eagles in the FDH Bank Cup final before the international break, Pasuwa’s men will begin their Airtel Top 8 defence with a home tie in the two-legged quarterfinals against Civil Service United at Kamuzu Stadium on Saturday.
It’s an important fixture against a familiar opponent Bullets recently eliminated from the FDH Bank Cup with a 1-0 victory in the quarterfinals last month.
The defending champions will seek to win Saturday’s encounter against the Civil Servants to redeem their season, having surrendered the FDH Bank Cup a few days after exiting the CAF Champions League and struggling in the TNM Super League.
Bullets will also be looking for a win in the first leg to have an advantage before the second leg away in Lilongwe and keep the Airtel Top 8 title defence alive.
Women
Maggie Chombo’s ladies have a midweek fixture as they take on Mighty Mukuru Wanderers Women at the Mpira Stadium in Chiwembe on Wednesday.
With five straight wins in the Goshen-FAM Women’s Southern Region League, a win over their rivals will see them dislodging Ntopwa Women from position one.
After thrashing Ntopwa 4-0 at Kamuzu Stadium on Sunday, Bullets Women took their tally to 15 points and beating Wanderers will see them move to the summit of the table with 18 points, before meeting Red Lioness at home on Saturday.
Under 19s
Our junior side will seek to bounce back from their 2-1 defeat away to Ndirande Stars when they play host to Ndirande Dortmund at Kamuzu Stadium on Saturday morning.
Bullets U19s lead the standings with 34 points from 14 games and a win this weekend will see them finishing on top of the table in the first round of the 2024 FCB Katswiri Under 20 League.
Yamikani Fodya’s boys, who have scored 26 goals and conceded only five, are competing heavily against Manchester Motor Spares FC, Griffin Youngsters and Agumbala FC.
Both Motors and Griffin have 28 points while Agumbala have collected 27 points.
Reserves
Enos Chatama’s side, which has contributed 13 players to the Malawi Under 20 provisional squad for the 2025 AFCON Cosafa qualifiers set for Mozambique later this month, will not be in action this week.
Unbeaten in their last four games, defeating Soccer Rangers 2-0 in the latest fixture on Sunday, Bullets Reserves are topping Group B of the 2024 ThumbsUp Southern Region Football League standings with 30 points.
