Excitement is building up as Castel Malawi Limited has set the mood for the final showdown in the Castel Cup between Mighty Mukuru Wanderers and Mzuzu City Hammers at Bingu Stadium (BNS) in Lilongwe on Saturday.
The two sides had an exciting journey to reach the finals and were probably not the favourites for the encounter considering their super league tracks this season.
However, Mzuzu City Hammers pulled a surprise last weekend as they edged defending champions, FCB Nyasa Big Bullets 4-1 through post-match penalties after a goalless encounter in the regulation time.
This could be Wanderers’ chance for a consolation to its supporters having failed to secure one in the TNM Super League, Airtel Top 8, and FDH Cup this season.
Ahead of the final showdown, Castel Malawi Head of Corporate Marketing and Communications, Lavern Chitakata said they are excited with this year’s competition as it also pulled a lot of surprise guests like Panthers from the Central Region Football League which booted out four super league sides, including league champions, Silver Strikers.
“We had increased the funds this year to K400 million because we saw a few gaps in the officiation especially from district and regional levels. We must say we have seen a great improvement which made a lot of teams participate, a lot of transparency which gave teams the comfortability to freely take part.”
“We are happy that most games also utilized the local stadiums like Mangochi, Balaka, Dedza, Karonga, which gave us a chance to engage more people, with even the elite teams. Motivating the young ones in the rural areas,” she said.
Chitakata further indicated that the impressive performance by regional teams speaks volumes of Castel’s commitment to unearthing talent in the country.
“We had teams like Hilltop for the regional games. They made it to round of 16, teams like Panthers that just joined and played in quarter finals, MMF Marine playing Bullets. For us it shows the seriousness in the country.”
“Our aim was to unearth talent and elevate the football in Malawi. The two finalists, that was so unexpected, it shows you the level of football is going way up and the fight for better is getting stronger,” she added.
Going forward, Chitakata said Castel wants to have more teams register in the cup next year and intends to increase the number of district grounds.
Mzuzu City Hammers patron, Gift Mkandawire said fans should expect another surprise performance from the side.
“We are all set to show the Nomads that we are the new giants in town,” he said.
Wanderers Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Panganeni Ndovi affirmed their intentions to win the Cup for the season.
“It’s our chance to win something this season. We will not relent,” he said.
Meanwhile, the final showdown is spiced by shows which started on Thursday at lower Biwi and Area 25 Nsungwi.
On the match day, patrons will be entertained with music from Fada Moti and Piksy at the match venue apart from the give-away prizes.
