Nyasa Big Bullets’ Ephraim Kondowe leads race for the FDH Bank Premiership Golden Boot

* With 9 goals scored in 15 of the 1st round appearances — one of Blue Eagles’ Tonic Viyuyi also in same number of matches played

* Two goalkeepers share 9 clean sheets in race for the Golden Glove, Nyasa Big Bullets’ Innocent Nyasulu and Silver Strikers George Chikooka

By Duncan Mlanjira

In 15 matches played of the 1st round of the FDH Bank Premiership 2026/27 season, Nyasa Big Bullets’ Ephraim Kondowe is leading the race for the Golden Boot with 9 goals.

He is one goal ahead of Blue Eagles’ Tonic Viyuyi, also in same number of matches played while four Golden Boot contenders are sharing 5 goals apiece.

Mighty Wanderers’ Lameck Mithi and Silver Strikers’ Festus Duwe scored their five in 11 matches played while Ekhaya’s Blessings Malinda and Moyale’s Lucky Mkandawire netted their in 13 appearances.

Thus Kondowe’s nine goals and the overall 20 in 8 wins, 6 draws and one loss, helped Nyasa Big Bullets end the 1st round as runners up with 30 points.

Viyuyi eight and Blue Eagles’ overall 24 in 10 wins, one draw and 4 losses, put them on top of the leaderboard with 31 points.

While Mighty Wanderers’ Lameck Mithi’s five and the club’s total of 27 in 8 wins, 5 draws and 2 losses put the Nomads on 3rd place with 29 points.

With the five from Festus Duwe, Silver Strikers amassed 23 goals from 8 wins, 5 draws and 2 losses to share 29 points with the Nomads, but placed on 4th place.

Despite Blessings Malinda contributing 5 goals, Ekhaya only managed to score an overall 15 from 4 wins, 6 draws and 5 losses for the team to finish first round on 11th place with 18 points.

Moyale’s total is 16 goals from 5 wins, 6 draws and 4 losses that put them on 6th place with 21 points.

Two goalkeepers share 9 clean sheets in race for the Golden Glove, Nyasa Big Bullets’ Innocent Nyasulu in 14 appearances and Silver Strikers George Chikooka in 15, while John Banda of Chitipa United has kept 6 clean sheets in 15 games.

Six share 5 clean sheets each, LUANAR Mitundu’s Emmanuel Kanthiti in 8 appearances; Mighty Wanderers’ Dalitso Khungwa (10 matches); Red Lions’ Precious Mitolo (11), Ekhaya’s Clever Nkungula (13); Moyale’s Jeremiah Simfukwe (14) and Blue Eagles’ Precious Masamba (15).

Silver’s Chikooka, Chitipa’s John Banda, Blue Eagles’ Masamba and Civil Service United’s Rahaman John are four goalkeepers who have manned the posts the entire 1st round.

Chikooka conceded 16 goals; Banda 16; Masamba 16; and John 14. Teams that conceded most goals are 13th-placed Karonga United (23); 15th-placed Kamuzu Barracks (22), rock bottom of the table Creck Sporting (16th) at 20 goals.

Ninth-placed Red Lions, who returned to the top flight super league they were demoted from some three seasons ago, have accumulated the highest disciplinary yellow cards at 30 that included one red card.

Blue Eagles follow with 27 yellow cards without a red, with Chitipa (7th) following at 24 plus two red cards. Also with 24 are Dedza Dynamos (12th) and MAFCO (14th).

Meanwhile, Mighty Wanderers were the most crowd pullers in the first-round as from the K1.083 billion raised as gate revenue, the Nomads’ fans contributed K93 million.

They are followed by Nyasa Big Bullets at K88 million; Silver Strikers at K39 million; and Ekhaya FC at K23 million as the top four.

Attendance for first round matches raked in a total of K1,083,053,220, up from K1,064,559,470 at the same stage in 2025 — representing a 1.74% increase.