Silver turn down CAF tourney offer

Silver Strikers have officially turned down an offer from the Football Association of Malawi (FAM) to join one of the CAF inter-club competitions.

FAM received communication from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) on May 9 to start engaging clubs on the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederation Cup participation.

The association’s club licensing and compliance manager Casper Jangale said FCB Nyasa Bullets would have the luxury of choosing which tournament to join, having swept all silverware on the domestic scene last season with Silver Strikers taking up the other slot after finishing as runners-up in both the TNM Super League and Castel Challenge Cup.

But in an interview yesterday, Silver Strikers Company Limited chief executive officer Patrick Chimimba reiterated that the Central Bankers will not take part.

He said: “We got the official communication from FAM, but our stand remains that participation in such elite tournaments should be earned.

“We won nothing last season and it wouldn’t look good at all for us to participate on the basis of coming second.”

On the other hand, Bullets, who were given until this Friday to decide on which tournament to join, yesterday said they were yet to decide.

The People’s Team’s chief administration officer Albert Chigoga said: “We still have time to decide.”

Silver’s stand has paved the way for Mighty Mukuru Wanderers, who finished third in the league last season.

Prior to the start of the season, the Nomads’ president and board chairperson Thomson Mpinganjira said they would consider joining the tournament depending on the team’s performance between the start of the league and the registration period.

Yesterday, Wanderers chief executive officer Panganeni  Ndovi could not be reached for comment.

Bullets are the only team that has participated in five of the last six editions of the CAF Champions League in which they went past the first hurdle once last year when they booted out Dragon FC 3-0 on aggregate in the first preliminary round before being eliminated by TP Mazembe of the Democratic Republic of Congo 5-0 on aggregate.