By Mubukwanu Kaingu
The season opening 2024/2025 Carling Black Label Samuel Zoom Ndhlovu Charity Shield match between Red Arrows and Kabwe Warriors will be played on August 10 at Levy Mwanawasa Stadium in Ndola and that will also be a double-header embracing the woman’s equivalent.
And Women’s national playoff winners Choma Warriors will face the women’s super league champions Green Buffaloes.
The game will be the curtain raiser for the League champions Arrows and 2024 ABSA Cup runners up Warriors whom they beat in the final to win a 2023/2024 season double.
FAZ President Andrew Kamanga said in a speech read on his behalf by the association’s general secretary Reuben Kamanga at the official launch held yesterday at the Golden Peacock Hotel in Lusaka that the double-header was a milestone.
“2024/25 Charity Shield is upon us and will even be bigger. It is even more exciting than the 2024 edition has brought on board representation from the women’s league. The pairing for the women Charity Shield participants which has Green Buffaloes and Choma Warriors is a perfect display of how much progress we have seen through the decentralisation policy. Choma Warriors were crowned champions of the recently held national playoffs. The waves being made by the women’s game is largely credited to efforts made by the clubs,” Kamanga said.
The women’s finals expands Zambian Breweries footprint in the “Zoom” Charity Shield they have been sponsoring for the last three years.
“The three-year sponsorship of the Carling Black Label Samuel Zoom Ndhovu Charity Shield has helped restore the respectability of the over six decades long championship. We are particularly happy that Zambian Breweries has not shut the door for other partners who wish to come on board in terms of sponsorship. There are enough opportunities in the game for more sponsors to take advantage of. So far, the Zambian Premier League has hit the ground running with exploring many sponsorship avenues, ” Kamanga added.
“May I end by congratulating the four teams that will slug it out during the Carling Black Label Charity Shield in Ndola on August 10,” said Kamanga
The double-header final will be preceded the following weekend with the start of the 2024/2025 FAZ Super League campaign.
Meanwhile, Zambia Premier League chairperson Joseph Chimpampwe whose department oversees the administration of the league said further cup competitions for both the women’s and men’s leagues are in the pipeline in the coming season.
“As ZPL,we have lined up a number of activities for the coming season to ensure we indeed with a focus to live by our beeline ‘professionalise to commercialise ‘ ,” Chimpampwe said.
