Civil Sporting, Masters shelve CAF tourney plans
Civil Sporting Club and Masters Security FC have shelved their plans of joining the CAF Confederation Cup to next year on technical grounds.
The two teams say were set to register for this year’s event, but following Football Association of Malawi’s (FAM) move to give Silver Strikers preference, they have put their plans on hold.
Civil Sporting’s general secretary Ronald Chiwaula said apart from the technical aspect, their performance has also contributed to their decision.
“Of course, we are yet to check with FAM if indeed Silver have joined, but despite that, our performance has not been impressive of late to deserve participating in a tournament of such magnitude because the condition from our sponsor [Office of the President and Cabinet] was that if we would continue performing well.
“So, in essence we will switch our focus to next year so that we can try and improve on our performance to qualify for the tournament,” he said.
On his part, Masters chairperson Alfred Gangata also said they were ready to take part in the continental tournament again this year.
“But if preference has gone to Silver then we will shelve our plan to next year.
“Nevertheless, we are proud to have opened the way for other teams and proved that with good planning, it is possible to take part in continental tournaments.
“That is why we have all these other teams expressing interest to join the tournament,” he said.
Masters took part in last year’s tournament and were eliminated in the preliminary round by Angolan club Petrolios de Luanda 5-0 on aggregate. They lost the first leg 5-0 in Angola before playing out a goalless draw in the return leg in Lilongwe.
FAM transfer matching systems manager Casper Jangale recently announced that Nyasa Big Bullets and Silver Strikers will represent the country in Champions League and Confederation Cup, respectively.
“Initially, Be Forward Wanderers had the rights to participate in the Champions League by virtue of being last season’s TNM Super League champions while Kamuzu Barracks had the right of way in the Confederation Cup having won the Fisd Challenge Cup which qualifies for a national tournament, but both teams said they would not take part.
“Then, Bullets, as the Carlsberg Cup champions and Super League runners-up, had the freedom to choose to compete in either of the two continental contests. But since they opted for the Champions League, the net was cast wider for other cup winners to take up the Confederation Cup slot. That is how Silver got the ticket since they won the Airtel Top 8 last season,” he said.
