* Winners of the district and regional leagues preliminary phase will qualify for the regional play-offs where they will be pooled together with NBS Bank National Division League NDL teams
* In their respective regions to determine teams that will qualify for the national phase
Maravi Express
Teams in districts and regional leagues wishing to participate in the Castel Challenge Cup 2025 are being invited to register with Football Association of Malawi (FAM) as for the preliminary phase, which is expected to kick off on August 2.
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A statement from FAM indicates that the preliminary stage will involve competitions running concurrently at district and regional leagues open to Premier Division and Division One teams.
Winners of the district and regional leagues preliminary phase will qualify for the regional play-offs where they will be pooled together with NBS Bank National Division League (NDL) teams in their respective regions to determine teams that will qualify for the national phase.
Registration — whose fees K50,000 for district teams and K100,000 for the regional Premier and Division teams — started yesterday and closes on Friday July 26 to proceed to the draw for the two phases that will take place between July 28-29.
The NBS Bank NDL involves Red Lions, Ntaja United, FOMO FC; Bangwe All Stars, Ndirande Stars (Southern Region); Mitundu Baptist, Namitete Zitha, Mchinji Villa (Central Region); Baka City, Chintheche United, Chilumba Barracks, Jenda United (Northern Region).
The NDL 12-team championship is the newly established second tier football system that replaces the Super League qualification using regional football leagues — which is believed to be the best tool for helping Malawi to attain dominance in Africa with a strong link of football pyramid, whereby the Super League is subordinated by a competitive league.
The NDL’s top-three teams will qualify for the TNM Super League 2026 while the bottom-four teams will be relegated to the regional leagues.
The inaugural NDL edition has Bangwe All Stars, FOMO FC and Baka City, which were relegated from the Super League last season, joining teams that finished from second to fourth in the South, Centre and North regional leagues.
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