Silver, BB beat CAF registration deadline
Silver Strikers and Nyasa Big Bullets have beaten the July 15 deadline of submitting their squads for the Confederation of African Football (CAF) club tournaments.
Football Association of Malawi (FAM) licencing and compliance manager Casper Jangale yesterday said both teams still have spaces to register more players as the maximum is 40 players each club.
He said the Central Bankers have submitted a list of 32 players while the People’s Team has so far presented a list of about 25 players.
Said Jangale: “They still have room to register more players, but if they do it after this Thursday then they will have to pay $250 [about K204 500] fee for each player.
“That provision is only for 15 days and, thereafter, they will be required to pay $500 [about K409 000] for each player and they can only feature in the group stages.”
Silver Strikers chief executive officer Thoko Chimbali said the remaining slots are for new players whom they are targeting.
He said: “As I said earlier, the coaching panel has made some recommendations and the hunt for new players to beef up the squad is on.”
On his part, Bullets chief administration officer Albert Chigoga said one of the additions to their list is Nigerian forward Babatunde Adepoju, whom they signed from their rivals Mighty Wanderers.
“In fact, there are more new players that we are going to sign only that we cannot reveal their identities as some of them are contracted to other clubs and, as such, we need to enter into negotiations,” he said.
On whether the closed local transfer window will not prove a stumbling block to get new players on board, Chigoga calmly said: “We will find a way out. That should not be a problem.”
Silver will take part in the CAF Confederation Cup while Bullets will participate in the CAF Champions League.
The People’s Team last participated in the elite tournament in 2019 when they were kicked out in the preliminaries by FC Platinum of Zimbabwe 3-2 on aggregate. The previous year, they were also bundled out in the preliminary round by Gor Mahia of Kenya.
Silver last participated in the tournament in 2018 when they were also booted out in the preliminary round by Gabonese side AO CMS in post-match penalties.
FAM’s First Instant Body last week approved the two teams’ participation in CAF club tournaments for 2021/22 after meeting all the requirements.
The continental club tournaments are expected to kick off on September 10.
