The Charity Shield match being played on 31st July has been set by the Football Association of Maldives (FAM) to kick off the new season.

The match will be played by the Dhiraagu Dhivehi Premier League (DPL) champion Maziya and FA Cup champion New Radiant.

The first tournament of the season after the Charity Shield match will be the Cup Winners' Cup. This is the first time the cup will be held in years as the season opener.

The DPL will start on 10th September in order to make time for Maziya's match in the AFC Challenge League after the Cup Winners' Cup and the AFC U-20 qualifiers.

The Cup Winners' Cup was introduced by the FAM in 1995, with its most recent run being in 2008. Sources have stated that the teams participating in the cup as of yet will be league champion Maziya, FA Cup champion New Radiant and Presidents Cup champion Odi Sports.

Maziya will be playing against Tajikistan's Regar-TadAZ Tursunzoda in the AFC Challenge League preliminary round for the West Region in Male' on 11th August. The team that wins this match will secure their spot in the AFC's group stage.

Maldives is in the same group as Myanmar, Brunei and Sri Lanka in the AFC U-20 qualifiers development phase. Under the new framework, the two teams that come out on top will secure their spots in the tournament's qualifiers. The group's matches will be held from 31st August to 6th September at Yangon, Myanmar.