The highly anticipated NBS National Division League (NDL) is all set to kick off on May 24 in Mchinji, promising to bring excitement and high-quality football to fans across Malawi.
The Football Association of Malawi (FAM) and NBS Bank, the league’s main sponsor, have expressed great optimism about the potential of the league to improve the country’s football standards.
In a joint announcement made by NBS Bank’s Chief Operating Officer, Shadrick Chikusilo, and FAM President, Fleetwood Haiya, at Mpira Village in Blantyre, both parties highlighted their commitment to promoting football development in Malawi.
Chisulo said the NDL is expected to provide a platform for emerging talents to showcase their skills, while also raising the overall competitiveness and quality of football in the country.
“When the FAM president and his team came to bring us the concept to transform football in Malawi and its significance in terms of our tiers in the football league, plus the impact it will have, we felt that it was a cause that we needed to jump into and assist. We feel it is a good choice that we made to partner with FAM on this transformative agenda,” said Chikusilo.
In his remarks, Haiya stated that the NBS Bank NDL will bring more competition to the Super League. He also announced that the recent FAM executive meeting agreed to raise the subvention for the teams to participate in the NDL to K15 million.
“I thank NBS for helping us ensure these teams receive a subvention initially set at K7.5 million, but has now increased to K15 million. This is just like seed money, it might not be sufficient, but we believe it will provide a solid starting point for the teams to compete and honour all the fixtures,” said Haiya.
NBS Bank injected K982 million into the NDL for three seasons, and will involve 12 teams from the regional football leagues and the three relegated from the Super League. The top three teams in the NDL will qualify for the Super League next season.
The first match will see Villa United host Mitundu Baptist at Mchinji Community Centre Ground.
