By Edwin Mbewe
LILONGWE-(MaraviPost)-Chipiku Premier League 2022 Season First Round comes to close this coming Saturday as Play Football Malawi FC hosts 2021 runners up Extreme FC in what can be termed as a final before the final at Maliri Ground in Lilongwe.
This will be the last game in group A, Play Football Malawi needs, at all cost, to defeat Extreme FC if they want to qualify to the next round while Waliranji based side Extreme FC a draw will be enough to seal the top four finish.
Extreme are currently sitting on position 4 with 22 points while Play Football Malawi have 20 points on position 5.
If Extreme wins,they will have 25 points and will top the group and a draw will see them ascend to position 3 with better goal difference as they will be tied on 23 points with LUANAR FC and Ngwanje FC.
A win for Play Football Malawi will mean they qualify to the second round with 23 points.
However, Dwangwa United FC who were relegated in the TNM Superleague in 2019/2020 season,have to wait for the next Chipiku Premier Division League Season.
This is so as the Nkhotakota based side have failed to qualify to the second round after finishing on fifth position in group B with 21 points from 14 games.
Dwangwa United FC lost 2-0 to Karonga United FC in their last game to be relegated in the Superleague along side Mponela United and Masters Security FC.
Ladwell Mbetewa, Dwangwa United FC Coach, described the situation as sad, saying they aimed at returning into the Super League but the competition has been tough in the Chipiku Premier Division League especially in the second set of the first round.
Mbetewa said the team was disjointed as most of the players were taking their JCE and MSCE Examinations.He added they have to go back to the drawing board and prepare well for the next season.
Austin Biton Ajawa, CRFA Chairman, described the first round as so competitive and hailed all concerned parties for well patronised first round.
“We are looking forward for the successful second round. Indeed in the beginning of the season we had issues pertaining to venues which we eventually solved after government loosened COVID-19 restrictions. Some other teams failed to honour fixtures in the first round for their own reasons”,
” As Association we will sit down and find out what caused this,and make sure that this doesn’t happen in the second round as it gives some other teams advantages over other when they are awarded free points”,Ajawa said.
Silver Strikers Reserve FC, Mbabvi United FC, Kamuzu Barracks RSV FC and St Gabriel Medicals FC have qualified from group B while Mitundu Strikers FC has been relegated to UNAYO Division one league.
Airborne Rangers FC, Villa FC, Support Battalion FC and Wimbe United FC have qualified from group C.Green Rangers FC has been relegated from Chipiku.Another team which has been relegated is Kasungu Police from group A.
The twelve teams which have qualified to the second round will be grouped into two of six teams.
They will play on home and away basis. The top three teams from the two groups will make it to the final group where they will battle it for the TNM Super League slot.
