* 𝗭𝗜𝗞𝗢𝗠𝗢 𝗠𝗔𝗗𝗢𝗟𝗢! Tapanga mbiri chifukwa cha inu. Tikumanenso chaka chamawa ndi moto wina!—Airtel Malawi Plc
* Our resolve is to keep improving our gate management systems to give teams more resources—FAM president Fleetwood Haiya
By Duncan Mlanjira
Airtel Malawi Plc has congratulated football fans for the high patronage of the Airtel Top 8 2025 final, which grossed a record-breaking total of of K116,454,500 in revenue, of which 50% was from electronic ticketing.
Management of Malawi football, Football Association of Malawi (FAM) and Super League of Malawi (SULOM) are championing the e-ticketing model as the best way of enhancing convenience, streamlining access — and most importantly, curbing fraud that is rampant using the traditional paper tickets.
Soon after the final, in which Nyasa Big Bullets defended the Airtel Top 8 title by beating inaugural champions in 2017, FAM president, Fleetwood Haiya said the record-breaking K116.454 million gross revenue gives a reason to believe that Malawi football is “on a good trajectory”.
FAM president Haiya (middle)
“Our resolve is to keep improving our gate management systems to give teams more resources,” he wrote on his Facebook page. “A big thank you to all the fans for making this milestone possible — together we can do more.”
On its own Facebook page, Airtel Malawi Plc takes cognizance that the record has been broken because of the support of supporters in embracing e-ticketing, which the mobile money service provider always reminded them prior to every matchday through automatically-generated SMSs.
“𝗭𝗜𝗞𝗢𝗠𝗢 𝗠𝗔𝗗𝗢𝗟𝗢! Tapanga mbiri chifukwa cha inu🔥👏🏽👏🏽. Tikumanenso chaka chamawa ndi moto wina!🔥🔥(thank you, we have made history because of you. Let’s meet again next season with more fire”).
At its annual conference prior to the Airtel Top 8 final, Institute of Marketing Management (IMM) awarded Airtel Malawi Plc with Best Commercial of the Year-Outdoor of the Year award for its innovation for the Airtel Top 8 football championship.
The commercial worked with Simply Black Media Malawi, also saw the advertising agency, a specialist pan-African media strategy and creative agency based in Lilongwe, been awarded ‘Advertising Agency of the Year’ for their work with Airtel Malawi Plc.
As a recap, the Airtel Top 8 2024 champions earned K30 million but for the 2025, the teams will fight for K35 million with K40 million pegged for 2026.
This was announced in July when Airtel Malawi Plc signed the extension of the tournament, that was increased by a staggering 180% from K234 million to K655 million.
The champions’ prize money is an increase from K17.5 million in 2023 while runners-up earned K10 million for the 2024 edition and will receive K12 million in 2025 and K14 million in 2026 — up from K5 million in 2023.
Each participating team earned K2.5 million in 2024 and will be K3 million in 2025 and K4 million in 2026, compared to K1 million in 2023.
Dolo wa Tournament (Player of the Tournament) earned K1.5 million in 2024 with K1.725 million for 2025 and K2 million in 2026 — up from K500,000 in 2023.
The Top Goal Scorer (Golden Boot) for the 2024 edition, won by Silver Strikers’ Chinsinsi Maonga with 3 goals, earns K1 million while for the 2025 is K1.350 million and K1.5 million in 2026, compared to K500,000 in 2023.
Maonga earned the title with two goals away from five Nyasa Big Bullets players with one each; Stanley Biliat, Chawanangwa Gumbo, Ephraim Kondowe Blessings Mpokera and Ernest Petro in the final.
Dolo wa Match (Man of the Match) in each game of 2024 earned K100,000 with K115,000 slotted for 2025 and and K140,000 in 2026, up from K50,000 in 2023.
When announcing the increase, Airtel Malawi emphasised that they reflect their commitment to recognising and celebrating Madolo excellence at every level of the competition, as said by former Managing Director, Charles Kamoto.
“Moreover, the prizes in the renewed package will be increasing every year, ensuring that the competition remains fierce and that both teams and individual awardees are continually motivated to perform at their best. Izizi ndi ZaMadolo!”
Advertisement
Since the inception of the Airtel Top 8 in 2017, Nyasa Big Bullets have won a record third title after they also won it in 2021 and 2023 and they have also beaten Silver Strikers in two consecutive final matches.
Silver Strikers have won it twice each — in 2017 when they beat Wanderers 10-9 on post-match penalties after goal-less in regulation time and beating Karonga United 1-0 in 2019 while Blue Eagles won it in 2018.
With a few matches to wrap up the TNM Super League 2024 season the fight for a place in the Airtel Top 8 2025 has leaders Silver Strikers (at 54); 2nd-placed Mighty Wanderers (at 50); Nyasa Big Bullets (3rd/44); Mzuzu City Hammers (4th/44); Civil Service United (5th/39); MAFCO (6th/38) Creck Sporting (7th/37); Kamuzu Barracks (8th/37); Karonga United (9th/37); Moyale (10th/36); and Dedza Dynamos (11th/33).
Advertisement