Automatic entry for league winners in Zambezi Challenge

This season’s TNM Super League winners will earn an automatic entry into the next Zambezi Soccer Challenge Cup slated for end of February in 2015.

Previously, three of the four clubs participating in the contest had to be voted in by soccer fans while the remaining slot was given to a foreign club.

According to KAS Investment operations manager Kelvin Moyo, whose firm has taken over the organisation of the competition from TopSport, the change aims at giving the deserved respect to the reigning league champions.

Last year, league champions Silver Strikers, Big Bullets and Mighty Wanderers took part in the contest after emerging as the top three outfits. Bullets topped the list with 23 742 votes followed by Silver with 19 520 and Wanderers with 16 857.

“It was just fortunate that league champions were voted in during the previous events; otherwise, it would be absurd to leave out the reigning league champions in the Zambezi Challenge,” he said.

This means that Bullets and Moyale, who face off in what could be a decider for league glory at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre this Saturday, are the only contenders for Zambezi Challenge’s automatic qualification.

Caps United of Zimbabwe are the defending champions of the competition after they beat Wanderers 1-0 in the finals at Kamuzu Stadium through Ishmael Thindwa’s strike to take home K3 million first prize.

However, Moyo said yesterday that Caps might not come to defend the title due to financial constraints.

“This is why we are now looking up to Zambia and Mozambique as other possible providers of a top club into the next event,” he said