Football teams should brace for a long 2025/26 season spanning 11 months instead of nine as Football Association of Malawi (FAM) gradually shifts its calendar to align with that of Fifa.
A calendar released by the association yesterday, shows that next season will start on March 29 with the NBS Bank plc-sponsored Charity Shield and end on February 28 2026 with the Castel Challenge Cup final.
FAM competitions and communications director Gomezgani Zakazaka said in an interview yesterday that the long season is a gradual shift of the calendar from April-December to between August and May.
“The arrangement is by design as we shift our calendar to be in line with that of Fifa and other major leagues acrosd the world,” he said.
The 2025/26 calendar also shows that the TNM Super League will kick off on April 5 and end on February 21 2026.
The Airtel Top 8 is scheduled to kick off on April 12 and end on June 28 while the FDH Bank Challenge Cup will kick off with preliminaries on June 28 with the national finals slated for November 1.
The newly-introduced NBS Bank National Division League is scheduled to kick off on May 24 and will run up to the weekend of February 14-15 2026.
The regional women’s leagues will run from May 31 to December 31 while the Women’s National Championship will run from February 1 to 8 2026.
The men’s regional leagues are expected to start on May 31 up to February 8 while youth leagues will be played from May 31 to December end.
The proposed transition shows that 2026/27 season is scheduled to start in May 2026 and end in April 2027 and the new calendsr will be fully aligned during the 2027/28 season which is earmarked to start in June-July 2027 to May 2028.
The calendar also includes international engagements involving national teams and clubs.
Reacting to the shift, Mighty Mukuru Wanderers chief executive officer Panganeni Ndovi said the shift will give players ample time to rest.
He said: “We have had congested fixtures in the previous year. This revised calendar takes into consideration the congestion and I believe that it will lessen the burden and pressure that the athletes had in the previous season.
“There should be strict compliance to the fixtures, particularly in the league as fixtures change willy-nilly and thus affecting the teams and players in the long run.”
But Mzuzu City Hammers patron Gift Mkandawire feels the change will give players “very little time” for rest heading into the next season.
“Secondly, it means elongated time of operation leading to more costs to the teams. The main advantage is that it will give breathing space to the clumped schedule in between play,” he said.
