Maziya Sports and Recreation has won the FA Charity Shield, which is played to mark the opening of the Maldivian football season. Maziya secured the shield by defeating their rival Eagles with a score of 2-0. This is the sixth time Maziya has won this shield. In the match played to start the first division tournaments in the Maldives after one and a half years, the goals for Maziya were scored by Ahmed Aiham and Naiz Hassan. In the match played on the official football field, which saw competitive play, the first attack was created by Eagles. In the 12th minute of the match, a ball sent by Eagles’ foreign player Ugwu Abdul Malik from outside Maziya’s penalty area went over the crossbar.
Maziya’s first dangerous attack was seen in the 18th minute of the match. An attack sent by Naiz from inside the area went out near the side post. Both teams had opportunities to score goals in the match. Notably, chances for Maziya’s Hamza Mohamed and Eagles’ Ibrahim Rizwan are worth mentioning. Maziya’s first goal came in the added time of the first half when a ball sent by Aiham from outside the area deflected off an Eagles player into the goal. At the beginning of the second half, in the 51st minute, an Eagles attack was seen. A ball sent from outside the area was blocked by Maziya’s Serbian goalkeeper Nemanja.
Maziya’s second goal in the match was scored when Naiz successfully connected with a ball crossed by Aiham, who had entered the area,, just as the goalkeeper came out of the goal area. Naiz scored this goal in the 57th minute. Even after this goal by Maziya, Rizwan sent a dangerous attack aimed at Maziya’s goal. In the 84th minute, a ball taken by Hamza from outside the area was headed by young Mohamed Ilan Imran towards the goal post. Maziya has donated a portion of the Charity Shield prize money to the Association for Visually Impaired Children in the Maldives. The shield was presented to the winning winning Maziya team by the Minister of Sports, Abdullah Rafiu. Maziya last won the Charity Shield in 2020.
