Football Association of Malawi has released a list of nominees for the 2022 FDH Bank Cup individual players awards.
The four awards up for grabs are the Player of the Tournament, Discovery of the Tournament, Best Goalkeeper, and Top goal scorer.
The latter was already claimed by Nyasa Big Bullets striker Babatunde Adepoju who scored five goals.
Adepoju is also in contention for the player of the tournament award which he will compete with teammate Chimwemwe Idana and Nyasa Big Bullets Reserves midfielder Chikumbutso Salima.
Salima has also been nominated for the Discovery of the Tournament award alongside teammate Yamikani Mologeni and Extreme FC striker Beston Jimu.
The three nominees for the goalkeeper of the tournament are Nyasa Big Bullets stopper Richard Chimbamba, Nyasa Big Bullets Reserves goalie Rahman John and Blessings Juma of Extreme FC.
The winners will be crowned at a special ceremony to be hosted by the sponsors FDH Bank at a date to be confirmed in due course.
According to FAM Competitions and Communications Director Gomezgani Zakazaka the Competitions Technical Study group produced the nominations after analsing the Competitions statistics.
Zakazaka said a selected group of coaches under the National Coaches Association, who were responsible for selecting player of the match in the competition and some Football journalists will vote for the awards.
Below are Briefs on the Nominees
Player of the Tournament
Name: Chimwemwe Idana
Position: Midfielder
Club: Nyasa Big Bullets
Number of games Played: 5
Number of games started: 5
Total Minutes played: 450
MOM awards: 2
Goals: 1
Chimwemwe Idana was one of the few ever-present members as Nyasa Big Bullets won their first FDH Bank Cup. He played every minute of the campaign and won two Man of the Match Awards. He scored one goal which changed the complexion of the final encounter as Bullets beat their Reserve side 3-1. With the match tied at 1 all Idana scored with a beautiful hard and low shot to put Bullets 2-1 before they scored the third to wrap up the championship.
Name: Chikumbutso Salima
Position: Midfielder
Club: Nyasa Big Bullets Reserves
Number of games Played: 5
Number of games started: 5
Total Minutes played: 450
MOM awards: 2
Goals: 3
Nyasa Big Bullets Reserves made history when they become the first non- Super League side to reach the final of a national cup since 2014 when they qualified for the final of the FDH Bank Cup where they lost to their big brothers. Their run to the final was not a fluke as they defeated three Super League giants Waka Waka Tigers, Red Lions and Blue Eagles. Their key man in the campaign was midfielder Chikumbutso Salima who scored three crucial goals including a brace in the semifinals. He played every minute of the campaign and was named Man of the Match twice.
Name: Babatunde Adepoju
Position: Striker
Club: Nyasa Big Bullets
Number of games Played: 5
Number of games started: 4
Total Minutes played: 343
Goals: 5
They say numbers do not lie and Babatunde’s exploits in FDH Bank Cup is just a true definition of that. Babatunde scored in all the five games to win the Golden Boot which was his third in a row after topping the scorer’s chart in two other national competitions.
Goalkeeper of the Tournament
Name: Blessings Juma
Position: Goalkeeper
Club: Extreme
Number of games Played: 3
Number of games started: 3
Total Number of Minutes played: 270
Cleansheets: 2
Extreme FC were another Non- Super League side that had a good run in the FDH Bank Cup as they reached the semifinal where they lost to Bullets Reserves. One of their outstanding players was goalkeeper Blessings Juma whose heroics saw the team finish with most clean sheets alongside Nyasa Big Bullets and Kamuzu Barracks. Juma kept two clean sheets.
Name: Rahaman John
Position: Goalkeeper
Club: Nyasa Big Bullets Reserves
Number of games Played: 5
Number of games started: 5
Total Number of Minutes played: 450
Cleansheets: 2
Another player who was ever present the whole campaign. John’s two clean sheets in the first two matches as Bullets Reserves beat Mighty Tigers and Red Lions paved the way for the young Bullets to make it all the way to the final. He was outstanding in the quarterfinal and semifinal as Bullets Reserves managed slender 2-1 wins in tightly contested matches against Blue Eagles and Extreme FC, respectively.
Name: Richard Chimbamba
Position: Goalkeeper
Club: Nyasa Big Bullets
Number of games Played: 4
Number of games started: 3
Total Number of Minutes played: 278
Cleansheets: 3
Despite Nyasa Big Bullets rotating three goalkeepers in the five games, they played in the competition, Richard Chimbamba got a lion’s share of game time when he played in four matches. He started in three matches and kept two clean sheets in the quarterfinal against Chitipa and the semifinal which was dubbed the final before final against archrivals Mighty Mukuru Wanderers. He also made one substitute appearance in a round of 16 thriller with Moyale when he was brought in with eight minutes to full time with the match tied at 4-4. He was the hero in the penalty shootouts as he saved two Moyale Barracks kicks to earn Bullets a place in the last eight.
Discovery of the season
Name: Yamikani Mologeni
Position: Midfielder
Club: Nyasa Big Bullets Reserves
Number of games Played: 5
Number of games started: 5
Total Number of Minutes played: 437
Man of the match awards: 1
He may not have been one of the popular figures in the team as was the hitman Salima, but Mologeni was the heart and the soul of Bullets Reserves campaign. As captain he led with example and was the engine of the team. His Man of the Match display in the quarterfinal was the reason Blue Eagles were eliminated.
Name: Beston Jimu
Position: striker
Club: Extreme FC
Number of games Played: 3
Number of games started: 3
Total Number of Minutes played:243
Man of the Match awards: 2
Goals: 3
Just like Babatunde, Jimu scored in each of the three games he played and was named Man of the Match twice. His exploits in front of the goal dragged Extreme to the semifinal where they narrowly lost to Nyasa Big Bullets Reserves
Name: Chikumbutso Salima
Position: Midfielder
Club: Nyasa Big Bullets Reserves
Number of games Played: 5
Number of games started: 5
Total Minutes played: 450
MOM awards: 2
Goals: 3
