The domestic football season kick off in Malawi has been shifted from February 26 to March 5 2022, Football Association of Malawi (FAM) has announced.

FAM spokesperson Gomezgani Zakazaka told the media that they had shifted the kick-off to give some teams an opportunity time to meet Club Licensing System requirements such as proper match and training venues and club secretariat offices.

“The season will start with a Charity Shield involving teams that won silverware last season —Nyasa Big Bullets who are the Super League defending champions and Silver Strikers who won the FDH Cup,” Zakazaka said.

“The two teams will meet on March 5 at Kamuzu Stadium in Blantyre and all preparations are on track. This season we will also have the Airtel Top 8 and the participating teams will be chosen based on their ranking on the league’s log table in the first round.”

He said FAM made the resolutions to shift the start of the elite league at a meeting which the association’s competitions committee held in Blantyre over the weekend.

The Super League season will follow on March 12 with Bullets seeking their fourth league title on the trot under the tutelage of Zimbabwean Kalisto Pasuwa.

The delayed start of the league should be sweet music to the ears of some Super League teams, which had complained of inadequate pre-season break.

The 2020-21 season in Malawi ended in December 2021. The current season will also end in December.