NBS BANK PUMPS K1 BILLION INTO NATIONAL DIVISION LEAGUE

NBS Bank on Wednesday evening  unveiled a K1 billion  three-year sponsorship for the national division league (NDL), which will start in 2025.

During the unveiling ceremony at Sunbird  Mount Soche in Blantyre Wednesday evening, the bank’s chief executive officer (CEO) Kwanele Ngwenya said the new league will start with K270 million for the 2025 season and will be annually increasing by 20 percent in accordance with inflation.

He said as ‘The Caring Bank’ celebrates 60th anniversary this year, they felt duty-bound to re-affirm their commitment to football development by coming up with the division league sponsorship, which comes on top of the existing three-year deal for the NBS Bank Charity Shield, which expires in 2026.

Meanwhile, NBS Bank has also increased the Charity Shield package for next season to K43million, barely four months after doubling it to K40 million.

Ngwenya said their strong passion for football has prompted them to bankroll the two competitions concurrently.

The national division league will from next season replace the regional premier leagues as the country’s second-tier competition, whose champions  and runners up will will be earning  automatic TNM Super League promotion.

“NBS Bank has proudly sponsored the Charity Shield for the past three seasons. Today, we are taking a significant step forward by sponsoring the National Division League, which will bridge the gap between the Super League and the lower leagues,” he said.

“This initiative aims to provide a platform for more competition among football teams and nurture players for the elite league and the national team, the Flames. The NBS Bank National Division League will kick off in the 2025 season.”

Ngwenya said the sponsorship commitment, running from 2025 to 2027, includes exclusive naming rights to the division league, prominent brand placement in all league-related materials, digital marketing opportunities and the organization of community events.

“This sponsorship aligns with our strategic goals of enhancing brand visibility, engaging with current and potential customers and reinforcing our commitment to community development,” he said.

“This sponsorship perfectly aligns with our strategic goals of customer engagement and community support. By supporting this league, we aim to foster talent identification and development, benefiting not only the players but also the entire community.”

Football Association of Malawi (FAM) president Fleetwood Haiya said he was happy with the new partnership agreement.

“We cannot wait to ignite the fire that was lacking to catapult the game of football to greater heights with  a modern set up of  football pyramid structures with this competition,” he said.

Haiya explained that about 60 percent of the sponsorship will go to the teams for various uses such as prizes, starter-packs and  buying equipment such as uniforms.

He said under FAM’s new drive of transforming the game, their mission is to effectively develop, govern, organize, and promote football in line with the best practices.

“These best practices will enable us achieve our vision to attain football dominance in Africa. And if we talk about best practices, it means setting standards in the quality of football and putting quality controls in our competitions, especially the lower tier competitions, which are the base of our player development pathway,” Haiya said.

“We noted that one of the problems that would hinder our dream of attaining dominance in Africa is the weak link of our football pyramid, whereby we have weak structures below the Super League. These structures affect our player development, leading to weak elite league teams, national team and the dwindling number of Malawi’s player exports.”

The coming in of the national division league has changed the pyramid of Malawi football as now there will be five tiers from four with the new league coming second to the Super League. The regional premier leagues will be the third tier while the regional division one will be the fourth tier. District leagues will be the fifth tier.

FAM competitions and communications director Gomezgani Zakazaka said the inaugural national division league will comprise of 12 teams, that is, three relegated from the Super League and nine from the regional premier leagues who will finish  from position two to four.

But from 2026, the 12 teams will have two teams relegated from the top flight, two losers of  Super League/NDL playoffs, four regional premier league winners and teams that will finish from five to eight in the 2025 NDL season.