Eagles Reserve stun Silver Reserve to finish first round on top in Chipiku

Blue Eagles Reserve on Sunday, 5th October 2025, produced another superb performance in the K25 million Chipiku Stores Central Region Premier League after stunning rivals Silver Strikers Reserve 1-0 at Silver Stadium.

Blessings Makhaula’s strike in the 41st minute of the first half was enough to earn the Area 30-based side maximum points and grant them the right to finish at the summit of the table.

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Despite the victory, the visitors struggled in the opening minutes as Silver played possession football and several times penetrated Eagle’s half. However, after receiving instructions, the boys regrouped quickly to match their opponents in terms of possession.

Eagles’ Innocent Zambira stood firm as a pillar in defense, denying Silver Strikers Reserve any chance to shoot on goal, while Watson Linguni and Blessings Makhaula controlled the midfield. Madalitso Khamula and Chrispin Singano led the assault group upfront. The first half ended in favor of the visitors at 0-1.

In the second half, despite efforts from both sides, no goals were produced and the match ended with a 0-1 margin to Eagles.

The away victory sealed the first-round top spot finish for the rookie Eagles, who were promoted into the premier league this season after winning the 2024 FAM Division One League championship. The team finishes the round with 35 points from 15 games. Extreme FC from Mchinji are second on the table with 32 points, three points behind Eagles.

The tremendous performance has excited head coach Christopher Sibale, who has vowed to fight for the championship.

“I’m very excited as head coach, and our aim is to fight for the championship. There are some areas we need to rectify before the second round kicks off. However, we have very good depth that can play against any team in the league. Being our first season in the top league, we encountered some challenges, but we have slowly settled,” Sibale said.

Meanwhile, the Central Region Football Association (CRFA) has announced that the first round of the 2025 Chipiku Stores Premier Division League will wrap up on 15th October.
The body’s general secretary, Antonio Manda, has revealed that there will be no break after the conclusion of the first round.

“We will use the interim break we had, hence no break this season. Talking about the competition, we had a stiff one. Statistics clearly show how teams are faring. In terms of discipline, one team, Green Rangers, misbehaved and disciplinary measures were meted out on them accordingly. We are sure that some teams learned lessons from that incident,” Manda said.

Manda added that another challenge the body has faced so far is inadequate human capital in refereeing, as some games had fewer officials, which is defeating their efforts to professionalize the league.

The 2025 season has been a milestone for the central league as they have introduced several new initiatives. They are the only regional body to have implemented the use of CMS, among other innovations.
However, according to general secretary Manda, as a new feature in the league, officials found it tough to adapt.

“This was evidenced by the late submission of the start list, but now many are used to it and we have really changed the complexion of the league. Many can agree with us that we are the regional association digitalizing our league. We are heading towards proper and professional league administration, which has never been there before. As a body, we are united and focused on achieving professionalism,” Manda added.

This year’s league is contested by 16 teams following the harmonization of regional leagues by the Football Association of Malawi. The body recommended that all regional premier leagues must have 16 teams, not 24 as they used to, with the top three teams qualifying for the newly established National Division League.