The Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has highlighted why the Reserve sides of any Super League team were excluded from this edition’s FDH Bank Cup. The 2024 FDH Bank Cup will feature 70 teams from regional leagues but Reserve teams have been omitted, according to the sheet that the Association released on Thursday.
During the previous editions, FCB Nyasa Big Bullets Reserve, Mighty Mukuru Wanderers Reserve, Silver Strikers Reserve, and other Reserve teams were allowed to participate and Bullets Reserve faced Bullets main team in the final of the tournament in 2022, a thing which raised eyes blows.
In 2023, Reserve teams were allowed to compete at the regional level without being allowed to go beyond the regional phase.
FAM Competitions and Communication Manager, Gomezgani ZakaZaka said the process to find the team to reach the national phase after a Reserve team won the regional fight was complicated hence deciding to completely exclude the teams.
“Basically, at the beginning of last year, the Football Association of Malawi made a resolution that reserve sides of super league teams should be allowed to take part in the tournament, but by just playing at the Preliminary phase [regional level], so that the possibilities of being paired against their senior teams should not be there.
“So, last year we allowed the Reserve sides to play in the competition but still we had complications when they are part of the teams that are qualifying for the national phase on how we are going to identify teams that would replace them. A decision was made in August last year that the Reserve sides should not be allowed to join the competition,” he said.
Prize money increased, regional teams to get MK1 Million for reaching the national phase
Football Association of Malawi in conjunction with FDH Bank Plc has announced an increase in the prize money that teams get for participating and winning the tournament.
FDH Bank Plc earlier this year announced the increase of the total sponsorship packages from MK120 to MK150 Million citing devaluation as the reason to make the decision.
However, teams and the Football fraternity were in the dark after the prize money was not released as the company decided not to make surgery on the package during the award presentation ceremony.
Speaking after the draw on Friday in Blantyre, Gomezgani said the team to reach the national phase from the regional phase will pocket MK1 Million on top of the FDH Bank branded kit.
ZakaZaka added this year’s champion will get MK35 Million, a rise from MK25 Million while the runners-up will get 15 Million, rising from the previous MK9 Million. The teams to be knocked out of the tournament in the Semi-finals and quarter-finals will pocket MK7 Million and MK2 Million respectively.
“We expect a lot of excitement because there is a lot at stake for these teams [regional]. There is MK1 Million for each of the 16 teams to qualify for the National phase, there is a lot to play for. You play two matches at regional, and you get MK1 Million, I think that’s huge considering what they get when they play in their leagues for the whole season. We believe that this will motivate the players, and the teams to do well.
“Not only for money, [FDH Bank Cup] is a platform that will give them the chance of exposure because they will play against several elite clubs. Others have developed their careers, they have developed and started playing for bigger teams through platforms like these. So, we expect a lot from regional teams,” he said.
The tournament is expected to start next weekend with the Preliminary phase being played for three weeks before the national phase starts by the first week of July. The final of the competition is expected to be played in the first week of October. FCB Nyasa Big Bullets are the defending Champions of the tournament after beating Mafco FC at Bingu National Stadium last year.
