The country’s football powerhouse—Be Forward Wanderers, Silver Strikers, Civo United and Nyasa Big Bullets—will all play their matches at home in Fisd Cup following a draw held yesterday at Mpira House in Chiwembe, Blantyre.
The draw is a relief for the giants who have struggled in away matches both in the TNM Super League and Carlsberg Cup games this season.
Wanderers have been drawn against Karonga United while Civo face Mzuzu University (Mzuni) FC.
Silver face MTV Max Bullets while Big Bullets host PremierBet Wizards. The draw is a repeat of the upcoming league fixtures between the two pairs.
In other fixtures, Azam Tigers will be at home against Blue Eagles while Red Lions were drawn against fellow Malawi Defence Force (MDF) side Kamuzu Barracks.
The draw also produced a derby between Mafco and Dwangwa United while Moyale Barracks have been paired against Epac FC.
The matches will be played on October 1 and 2.
But before the Super League teams join the competition, 29 district champions from Presidential Cup will battle out in the preliminary round on September 17 and 18.
Southern Region draw was held at Mpira House while Civo Stadium in Lilongwe hosted Central Region draw. The Northern Region held its draw at Mzuzu Stadium.
Football Association of Malawi competitions manager Gomezgani Zakazaka said the organising committee would announce the venues later.
Fisd Limited Company brands manager Maxwell Phiri said they were excited with the draw.
“To us, this is the beginning of something important to both us, a company and Malawi football,” he said.
Phiri said they deliberately wanted the cup to involve grass roots football teams.
“We wanted to complement Presidential Cup; this is why we are starting with teams from the grass roots. We want to see a village team beating a Super League team. We would love to see a district team winning this cup.
“As you are aware, our company is advocating the use of irrigation to end hunger in the country. Our campaign is targeting people in the districts and; hence, football is the right channel to send messages on the use of irrigation to end hunger in the country.”
Eight teams will qualify for the national stage with the South and Centre contributing three teams each while the North will send two teams.
These will join eight teams Super League teams for the round of 16.
