Silver Strikers goal poacher Festus Duwe is on the brink of lifting the 2025 Airtel Top 8 Golden Boot award with three goals to his name.
Duwe has a chance to increase his goal tally on Sunday when Silver take on FCB Nyasa Big Bullets in the final at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe.
The forward opened his account in Silver’s 1-0 home victory over Moyale Barracks in the first leg of season 8 of the cup before netting a brace in a 3-1 return leg win, making him the tournament’s top scorer so far.
With Alfred Chizinga of Karonga United out of contention following his team’s semi-final exit, the former Civil Service United striker’s main competition now comes from within his o w n club and their final opponents Bullets.
Also standing a chance to add to their goal tallies at Silver are Stain Davie, Nickson Mwase and Emmanuel Allan who have a goal each.
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Bullets stars Maxwell Gasten Phodo, Hassan Kajoke and Chikumbutso Salima will also go into the final with a goal each.
But for any of the six to overtake Duwe, they would need to score a hat-trick in the final, provided Duwe fails to add to his tally.
Should any of the six players net two goals with no reply from Duwe, the award would end up being shared.
Former Malawi national football team captain Joseph Kamwendo, who won the award with two goals in the 2018 edition, said it is hard for Airtel Top 8 matches to produce more goals.
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“You just play four matches in this tournament. So you cannot expect players to register more goals as the competition goes into the last match. But sometimes they can. I am sure Duwe is a favourite to win, but football can be crazy sometimes. So I am hopeful that this will be one of the best games come Sunday,” Kamwendo said.
But despite the excitement surrounding this year’s race, the all-time Airtel Top 8 scoring record remains firmly held by Babatunde Adepoju.
The Nigerian striker netted an unmatched nine goals across his appearances, including an incredible eight-goal haul during the 2021 campaign and an additional goal in 2022 to cement his legacy.
Since its inception in 2017, the Airtel Top 8 has traditionally seen low-scoring Golden Boot winners.
The inaugural award went to Khumbo Ng’ambi in 2017 with three goals, followed by Joseph Kamwendo (two goals in 2018), Khuda Muyaba (two goals in 2019), Lanjesi Nkhoma (two goals in 2023, shared), and Chinsinsi Maonga (three goals in 2024).
