We start our 2024/25 TotalEnergies CAF Champions League journey as we host Zambian champions Red Arrows in the first leg of the first preliminary round at the Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe on Sunday afternoon.
Kalisto Pasuwa’s men will be looking for a win at home before travelling to Lusaka for the return match next week as The People’s Team will seek to advance to the second preliminary round where TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo awaits.
Before Sunday’s clash in Lilongwe, we look at the opposition, who, going by the statistics, are flying high after winning the CECAFA Dar Port Kagame Cup in Tanzania and the Carling Black Label Charity Shield in Zambia.
Current Form
The Zambia Air Force-sponsored side, expected in Lilongwe on Friday, will go into this contest with their heads up following their recent success in domestic and international games.
Red Arrows were a guest team at the 2024 CECAFA Kagame Cup that was staged in Tanzania where they won the competition.
The Airmen started their campaign with a hard-earned 1-0 win over Kenya’s Gor Mahia courtesy of James Chamanga’s strike.
Their next opponent was Al Hilal in match two. The Zambian champions suffered a heavy 5-0 defeat at the hands of the Sudanese giants.
This defeat meant they needed to win their final group-stage match to qualify for the knockout phase as the best second-ranked team.
Indeed, they delivered as a strike from Anthony Shipanuka handed them the much-important win over Djiboutian ASAS Djibouti Telekom to book a place in the semifinals.
Their next assignment was against Hay Al Wadi FC from Sudan. The match was intense as the two teams failed to separate themselves in regulation time, forcing the game to extra time.
In the final 30 minutes, the Zambian champions showed supremacy through a strike each from Paul Katema and Alassane Diarra to progress to the final where the Rwandan side, APR, was waiting.
In the final, Ricky Banda had given Chisi Mbewe’s side a first-half lead which was cancelled to force the game to extra time. The two teams couldn’t break each other and penalties had to come in to decide the winner.
Arrows beat APR 10-9 in the shootout to become the first club in Zambia’s history to win the CECAFA Dar Port Kagame Cup 2024.
They only spent a few days in Zambia before flying back to Tanzania for an international friendly match against Young Africans S.C as part of commemorating the Yanga Day, hosted by their opponents.
Banda was on target in the first minutes of the match before the visitors surrendered their lead to lose 2-1 to the hosts.
The next assignment was the Carling Black Label Charity Shield match against Kabwe Warriors in readiness for the new football season in Zambia.
The Zambia Premier League defending champions again showed dominance by hammering their opponents 4-1 through a brace from Banda and lone strikes from Angel Lubamba and Michie Malonga.
Red Arrows’ domestic success
Our opponents won the 2023/2024 Zambian Premier League with 71 points. This was their third league title after winning it in 2002 and 2022.
They also won the Zambian Cup in 2007 and the Zambian Challenge Cup in 1982, finishing as runners-up in 1978 and 1989.
Red Arrows were winners of the Zambian Charity Shield in the 2005, 2022 and 2024 seasons.
CAF Champions League performances
This will be their third CAF Champions League appearance in Africa’s biggest club competition.
In 2005, they were eliminated in the second preliminary round before exiting the competition in the first preliminary round in the 2021/2022 campaign.
They also participated in the Confederations Cup where they were eliminated in the Round of 16 in 2005 and the preliminary stage in 2012.
This will be the first-ever meeting between the two clubs from neighbouring Malawi and Zambia.
