Bullets Board Approves CAF Champions League Participation

FCB Nyasa Big Bullets Board has approved the team’s participation in the Intercontinental Showpiece, as per our report on Friday evening.

The Club’s Chief Administrative Officer, Albert Chigoga in an interview last week confirmed with this Publication that the board was on the verge of making the decision on the team’s participation in the prestigious tournament.

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Sources on Friday confirmed to us that the Board gave the Club a nod and the team will return to the 2024/24 edition of the Champions League.

“They [Big Bullets] have been assessing the situation and the decision has been made to play in the Champions League. They want the team, and the players to gain experience in playing in big tournaments,” the source said.

When contacted, Chigoga confirmed the development saying the board has approved their request to take part in Africa’s tournament.

“Yes, I can confirm that we are going to participate in the Caf Champions League as we have been doing in the previous years. We have submitted our application to Caf through FAM and we will now wait for the Association to guide us on what to do,” he said.

Following their confirmation of Caf’s participation, Bullets are expected to receive $100, 000 which is close to MK200 Million from the Football Association of Malawi as the President, Fleetwood Haiya pledged last week. The package is for two years.

Bullets chose the Champions League over the Confederation Cup

The Super League Champions have decided to compete in the CAF Champions League over the Confederation Cup despite numerous suggestions that the Cup winners’ tourney would be good for them.

People’s suggestions were based on the team’s performance in the competition for the last five years coupled with their performance this season.

Bullets have failed to go beyond qualification stages on six occasions. They were booted out by Al Hilal, Gor Mahia, Amazulu FC, FC Platinum, Simba SC, and TP Mazembe.

The Confederation Of African Football, CAF has been considering chopping Confederation with the introduction of the Africa Football League.

Speaking on the eve of the kick-off of the 34th edition of the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) tournament at the Main Media Centre in Abidjan, in Côte d’Ivoire, CAF) President Patrice Motsepe says the CAFCC could be sacrificed for the more lucrative and financially viable African Football League (AFL) and CAF Champions League (CAFCL).

“You’ve got to look at the African Football League within the context of what we are trying to achieve. Let me immediately start with what is not possible, you’ve got to be careful that you don’t have the football players playing too many fixtures, too many matches and the other thing is you must also not undermine the professional football leagues in Africa,” Motsepe said.

“So, I understand when some of the professional leagues are worried about African football. My family spends a hell of a lot of money since I’m the CAF president I had to take several steps away. So, we do want the professional football leagues in Africa to succeed and the clubs to make money.

“So, we want to get the Champions League and the African Football League to make them more commercially viable and make sure that the clubs make money out of them but the other thing that’s very important as well is we may have to have the Confederations Cup canceled. We can’t have too many competitions.”

However, the decision is yet to be confirmed as the 2023/24 campaign came to an end on May 19 with Egyptian side Zamalek overcoming Morocco’s RS Berkane to win the continent’s second most-important club competition.

The Cairo-based club won the trophy on aggregate. They had headed into the return fixture at the Cairo International Stadium trailing 2-1 from the first leg in Morocco a week ago.

Striker Ahmed Hamdi fired Zamalek ahead on 23 minutes to level the tie and secure the title for the Egyptians on away goals.

The cup is the second ever for Zamalek. They first became Confederations cup winners in the 2018/2019 season. This title also came at the expense of Berkane who were defeated in a penalty shootout.