Moyale Barracks

The club answers to the Malawi Defence Force, and the barracks it takes its name from are not in Malawi at all. Moyale sits in Kenya, and during the Second World War it served as a transit camp for Malawian soldiers moving through. The name travelled home with them.

Home is Mzuzu Stadium, 15,000 capacity. After post-match clashes, the Super League of Malawi barred both Moyale and Mzuni FC from staging the Mzuzu derby at the stadium, sending it out to neutral ground at Karonga instead. A city derby played 200 kilometres from the city.

Khuda Muyaba came through here and left with a reputation for goals — the Super League Golden Boot in 2019 arrived after his time at Moyale, at Silver Strikers, and he has since worked his way through South African football at Polokwane City and Richards Bay. In goal, McDonald Harawa has been a fixture since at least 2012, which in a club that recruits from the ranks counts as a long stay.

They are the Lions of Kaning'ina, after the forest that surrounds the barracks above Mzuzu, and the whole arrangement — the ground, the name, the players — traces back to 1967, when the army in the Northern Region decided it wanted a football team.