In the old system, clubs earned their promotion as champions from each of the Premier Division of the regional football leagues of Thumbs-Up Southern, Chipiku Stores Central and the Northern League while three others were relegated from the Super League to the second tier table.
In these regional teams, the matches weren’t attracting gate charges, yet still in several venues the patronage was poor with people learning of their results through mainstream and social media platforms managed by the leagues and the clubs themselves.
All this has changed — the NBS Bank NDL matches attract a gate fee of which 75% of the revenue goes to the home team with the remaining 25% to venue owners as a financial boost to the clubs, which were provided with a starter pack of K15 million, that was doubled from K7.5 million to give the teams adequate financial support to help them fulfill their fixtures.
The 12-team new system has been introduced as Malawi’s second-tier league from which top three teams will qualify for the TNM Super League 2026 while the bottom-four teams will be relegated to the regional leagues, to create space for champions of the South, Centre, North and the newly-establishment Eastern Region.
It seems the participation in the inaugural NBS Bank NDL 2025 edition of Bangwe All Stars, FOMO FC and Baka City — who were relegated from the TNM Super League last season — might be working wonders in fans’ patronage since all three teams impressed in the 2024 elite season despite being relegated.
All they are fighting for is to return to the elite league and all three are in contention for the championship in Week 4 in which Baka City are 4th but just one point behind the three leaders — Mitundu Baptist (1st), Red Lions (2nd) and Namitete Zitha (3rd).
FOMO FC are 7th while Bangwe All Stars are 8th with 6 points apiece, three behind the top three and just ahead of them are Chintheche United (6th/7pts) and Ntaja United (5th/7pts).
Behind them — in the four relegation zone positions — are Ndirande Stars (9th/2pts); Chilumba Barracks (10th/2pts); Mchinji Villa (11th/2pts) and Jenda United (12th/0pts).
The inclusion of Baka City, Bangwe All Stars, FOMO FC and the Zomba-based military side, Red Lions — who got relegated from the TNM Super League a long while back and narrowly couldn’t make it because of top performance of Ekhaya FC in their debut Premier Division — makes NBS Bank NDL a perfect high-profile second tier league for the country’s football system.
The home team fans are cheering on with the same verve the TNM Super League teams receive in their assignments, which take place in same venues the NBS Bank NDL matches are being played — that include Rumphi Stadium, Mulanje Park, Balaka Stadium, Mchinji Community Centre and whenever there is an opportunity, be it stadia for Super League games.
After the home defeat against Red Lions at Mpira Stadium yesterday, Bangwe All Stars head coach, Isaac Jomo Osman applauded fans for turning up in good numbers that cheered the players’ morale to take the game to the Lions’ den — only that the military side used experience to contain them.
“I know that our fans are disappointed with the result and our performance this far, but they should not give up on us because we will pick up going forward,” he told the media after the match. “We are talking of Red Lions here — a very experienced side who have kept their players [who participated in the TNM Super League].
“Our players are in a new challenge and we are also building a team inside a competition because it was doubtful if we were going to be able to participate due to other challenges — and we assure our fans that aMaghetto is aMaghetto, maBangwe will bounce back for sure.”
On his part, Red Lions’ coach, Malumbo Mkandawire described the game as tough because Bangwe All Stars were on a familiar turf where they train all the time as well as the fans giving them excellent support.
“Our players went into the pitch having been told not to underrate Bangwe. We knew Bangwe are good at ball possession and our tactic was to be first to the ball,” he said.”
At Kasungu Stadium, Jenda United coach, Uchizi Nkhunika applauded the fans for travelling all the way from base, Jenda on the border with Mzimba, to support their team at their selected home venue and he asked them not to give up following the 1-2 loss to Namitete.
“It’s a fourth loss in as many games and a second at home and the fans expected us to be on top of the game at home, and the players did so. Unfortunately, we failed to utilise the many chances we had and we were punished.
“We assure the fans that [the journey in the NBS Bank NDL is long] — they should not give up because the players know the supporters travel a long distance from Jenda to give us moral support.”
Namitete United coach, Richard Fosiko also acknowledged that Jenda United were buoyed by the home support, which they did want to disappoint and that also made them work extra hard.
“Our experience worked because I had to change tactics from the initial 4-4-2 system to 4-5-1 that worked well to try and contain Jenda, who continued to work harder than before,” he said.
Players have also been incentivised through Man of the Match awards and so far, those that made the grade have really been very outstanding in their performances that lifted the fortunes of their clubs — and in Week 4 they were Macfen Mdolo (FOMO FC); Rajabu Yasin Namitete Zitha); Dan Nyambose (Red Lions); Mwiza Chiona (Baka City) and Jimmy Kalanje (Chintheche Stars).
Fans should indeed expect best football in the NBS National Division League, who positively patronised stadia of Rumphi, Karonga, Kasungu and Mulanje in Week 4.
