Silver Strikers this year appear in the NBS Charity Shield after winning the 2024 TNM Super League. Silver Strikers will play against Mighty Wanderers FC at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe on Saturday.
The Charity Shield is the Football Association of Malawi’s flagship corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) program, aimed at mobilizing the football community and the public to raise funds and awareness for a charitable cause of national importance.
This marks the second time these teams will face each other in the eighth traditional season opener. The two sides last met in 2018 when the Charity Shield was a two-day event featuring four teams. In that match, Silver Strikers defeated Mighty Wanderers 2-0 with goals from Mphatso Philimon and Timothy Chitedze.
Both teams have participated in this charity match three times since its inception, yet neither has claimed victory.
Silver Strikers has been involved in the Charity Shield since 2018, when the Area 47 side lost to Nyasa Big Bullets in the final. Four years later, Silver Strikers returned to the first competitive match of the season but fell short again against Bullets. The outcome was the same in 2024, just ahead of what promised to be a glorious year for the Central Bankers.
To qualify for this year’s Charity Shield match, the Lali Lubani-based side secured the Castel Challenge Cup by defeating Mzuzu City Hammers in the final at Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe. They have participated in this match since 2016. Mighty Wanderers later took part in the Charity Shield in 2019 and 2023.
Both teams are certainly experienced for this match, and the fact that neither has ever won it adds excitement to this year’s occasion.
