* Already secured are leaders Silver Strikers at 58 points followed by 2nd-placed Mighty Wanderers at 53
* As well as 3rd-placed Nyasa Big Bullets (45); Mzuzu City Hammers (4th/44) and Civil Service United (5th/42)
By Duncan Mlanjira
The TNM Super League 2024 seems to be heading to the Capital City unless leaders Silver Strikers fail to win their four remaining assignments, but there is an interesting aspect of the last games in the fight for qualification into the Airtel Top 8 2025.
Already secured are Silver Strikers at 58 points followed by 2nd-placed Mighty Wanderers (at 53); 3rd-placed Nyasa Big Bullets (45); Mzuzu City Hammers (4th/44) and Civil Service United (5th/42).
With 39 points and at 6th position are Moyale while Creck Sporting (7th), Karonga United (8th) and MAFCO (9th) tie on 38 points, with Creck and MAFCO remaining with two games while Karonga have three more to go.
Kamuzu Barracks at 10th have 37 points with one game remaining while Dedza Dynamos are at 11th with 35 and have two more games to play — thus every game counts for the 6 teams after Civil Service United, who beat Karonga United 3-0 yesterday.
They were all scored by Festus Duwe (64′, 69′ and a 74th minute penalty) — the fastest hat-trick in the Super League since TNM Plc started sponsoring the league, which was achieved in only 11 minutes.
Festus Duwe
Meanwhile, 12th-placed Mighty Tigers added more woes to Chitipa United (15th) in their fight against relegation, beating them 1-0 through Precious Chipungu’s 29th minute goal.
Chitipa have two more games to play with 23 points, which if they win both they will amass maximum 29 points while FOMO FC are 14th with 25 points, remaining with three games with Bangwe All Stars on 13th with 27 points and having two games left.
If the Mulanje-based FOMO collect maximum points in their remaining three assignments, they will collect 34 points while Bangwe All Stars will amass maximum 33 points — thus pushing Bangwe All Stars to relegation.
Already relegated are the 2024 debutantes Baka City, who have fo far collected 13 points from 28 games of two wins, 7 draws and 19 losses — scoring 16 goals while conceding 69.
Silver Strikers
If Silver Strikers win their next three of the four remaining matches, the Bankers will win the title with a game in hand following their 0-0 draw with Nyasa Big Bullets on Saturday from which they have 58 points.
The Bankers will amass maximum 67 points if they win the next three games, including that against runners-up Mighty Wanderers, whose maximum points from their four remaining matches is 65 points.
The two are separated by 5 points from same number of games while 3rd-placed Nyasa Big Bullets have pulled away with one point from the spot’s contenders, Mzuzu City Hammers, whom they shared at 44 points prior to The People’s Team’s encounter against the Bankers.
However, the Bullets have four more games to play while Mzuzu City Hammers only have two with the Bullets needing to win two games to secure the 3rd place — against Civil Service United on Wednesday and Mulanje-based FOMO FC the following Sunday.
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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.
When announcing the extension of the tournament in July, Airtel Malawi Plc unveiled that champions of the Airtel Top 8 2024, would earn K30 million but for the 2025, the teams will fight for K35 million with K40 million pegged for 2026.
The sponsorship was increased by a staggering 180% from K234 million to K655 million and the champions’ prize money is an increase from K17.5 million in 2023.
The 2024 runners-up, Silver Strikers, earned K10 million while for 2025 will receive K12 million and K14 million in 2026 — up from K5 million in 2023 while 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 K1.35 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.
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