Football lovers wishing to watch the Castel Challenge Cup semifinal between sworn rivals FCB Nyasa Big Bullets and Mighty Mukuru Wanderers from VIP and open stands must prepare to dig deeper into their pockets as Football Association of Malawi has hiked gate charges.
Bullets and Wanderers are scheduled to fight for a ticket to the cup’s final at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre on Sunday.
Fam is selling an open stand advance ticket at K4,000 up from K3,000 while on match day, the same ticket will be sold at K5,000 from the previous charge of K4,000.
A VIP stand advance ticket is going at K15,000 from K12,000 while on match day, the ticket will cost K20,000 from K15,000.
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However, Fam has maintained gate charges for MBC Stand and reduced charges for covered stands.
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Fans wishing to sit at MBC Stand will be asked to pay K5,000 for an advanced ticket and K6,000 on match day whereas a covered stand advanced ticket will be bought at K7,000 down from K8,000.
On match day, the ticket will cost K8,000 down from K10,000.
Fam Commercial and Marketing Director Limbani Matola confirmed the changes but declined to shed more light, promising to return our call later.
He had not yet done so by the time we went to press. However, the two giants believe the prices are fair and will not deter fans from watching the highly anticipated derby.
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Bullets Chief Administration Officer Albert Chigoga said fans will get used to the new charges.
“The fans should take these new charges into the 2024 football season. We are promoting the match through social media, radio adverts as well as town storming to increase awareness as well as create excitement for people to make the decision to come and watch the match.
“Tickets are already on the market for pre-sales so as to avert possible queues and thwart possible fraud. There will be heavy security around the stadium with the access point being restricted to only those with tickets. This match would not have come at a better time,” Chigoga said.
Wanderers Chief Executive Officer Roosevelt Mpinganjira said the slight changes will not affect the turn-up.
“Last time we had a derby, these charges were already there. Of course, there have been some slight changes here and there. Our fans should also bear in mind that devaluation has not helped matters. But this is a big game and we are asking both sets of supporters to dig deeper into their pockets so that they are part of this derby.
“We regard them as the most important stakeholder, so they must come in their large numbers. This will be an explosive game and we envisage that we can set a new gate revenue record. Fam and other stakeholders have organised public relations sessions in both print and electronic media and everything is in place. There is a lot of advertising on both radio and print as well as township storming with PA [public address] system,” Mpinganjira said.
He said stakeholders to the match are also working on hiring various security agencies and credible ticket printing and management companies to help curb gate fraud.
In their two league meetings in the just-ended TNM Super League, Bullets and Wanderers shared spoils after a goalless and a 1-1 stalemate at the same venue.
But this time around, the match will have to produce a winner who will face either Silver Strikers or Bangwe All Stars in the final. Silver and Bangwe are in action on Saturday.
