Big Bullets Caf dream alive
The revised Confederation of African Football (Caf) calendar has given ample time to Malawi’s Caf Champions League representative Nyasa Big Bullets to prepare for the competition.
Caf Executive Committee, through a virtual conference on Thursday, ratified the decision of the Caf Emergency Committee on resumption of the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) qualifiers and 2022 Qatar Fifa World Cup. The continental football governing body also released new schedule for Caf Champions League in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Registration for the 2020/21 Caf Champions League and Confederation Cup will start on October 21 to November before the second registration period from November 11-30, 2020.
According to the new schedule, the preliminary round of the continental club championship will be played from November 27 to 29 with the return legs slated for December 4-6, 2020.
The second preliminary round will take place between December 22-23 before the second legs between January 5-6, 2021.
With football still suspended in the country, Bullets were facing race against time to prepare for the competition whereas Blue Eagles, who expressed interest to take part in Confederation Cup, are still doubtful.
Bullets Chief Administrator Albert Chigoga was not readily available for his comment yesterday.
However, Chigoga recently told our sister paper, The Daily Times that their participation would depend on the resumption of the games.
“It depends on how soon resumption of football will be communicated,” Chigoga said.
By winning the TNM Super League last season, Bullets qualify to take part in the Champions League whereas Eagles also qualified for the Confederation Cup for winning the Fisd Challenge Cup-which is a national cup.
Should Eagles fail to take part in Confederation Cup, Silver Strikers will have a chance. Bullets last season exited in the preliminary stage after losing 2-1 to Platinum FC of Zimbabwe whereas Masters Security lost 3-0 to Proline FC of Uganda.
Football analysts have urged Bullets to continue participating in the Caf Champions League.
In Afcon qualifiers, the Flames are expected to face Burkina Faso back to back between November 9-17 before meeting South Sudan in March and Uganda at home next year.
Meanwhile, Caf also announced the start of the first edition of Caf Club Women’s Champions League next year.
According to Caf, the first edition will comprise eight teams, qualifiers from Caf’s zonal winners including the hosts.
