Things fall apart. The centre can no longer hold. The number of Southern Region teams in the TNM Super League has now dropped to four,
This is the region’s lowest in a decade and a repeat of the 2019 experience.
The relegation of Blantyre-based Bangwe All Stars and Mulanje-based Fomo FC means in the 2025 season the region will have FCB Nyasa Big Bullets, Mighty Mukuru Wanderers, Mighty Tigers and the yet-to-be-promoted outfit from the second-tier ThumbsUp Southern Region Football Association (SRFA) League Premier Division.
The development means the 16- team elite league continues to favour the Central Region for the past 11 seasons as it has now increased its teams from last season’s six to seven.
Its teams for the 2025 season are champions Silver Strikers, Civil Service United, Mafco FC, Kamuzu Barracks, Creck Sporting, Dedza Dynamos and a promoted side from the Chipiku Stores Central Region Football Association (CRFA) League Premier Division.
The Northern Region follows after retaining five teams as it will be represented by Moyale Barracks, Karonga United, Chitipa United, Mzuzu City Hammers and the Northern Region Football Association (NRFA) Premier League champions. Five is the record number of Northern Region’s teams in a season.
Yet from the time TNM took over Super League sponsorship in 2008, the Southern Region’s teams had been a dominant force until the Central Region dethroned it in 2013. Then, the Northern Region had only two teams, but it has gradually grown its numbers over the years.
The South reached its climax in 2010/11 season when it had eight teams. Then, the top-flight league had 15 teams and that meant they made up over half of the teams.
The region’s pendulum has been swinging from seven teams to five in the last decade except in 2019 when the region had four, its lowest number.
But what could be the contributing factors to the decline of teams in the South? What have the Centre and the North been doing right to increase their numbers over the years?
SRFA chairperson Raphael Humba attributed the league’s loss of steam to lack of financial capacity as most of the region’s teams depend on individuals.
“If you look at the teams we ushered into the Super League recently, you will note that most of them are run as entities of individuals, who mostly struggle to raise funds to fulfil elite league needs such as regular payment of players’ allowances and going on the market to buy the best players.
“For instance, Bangwe All Stars
survived relegation in their first season in 2023 partly because they had a good number of loaned players from Bullets. Once such players returned to their club, the side struggled with consistency in the 2024 season.”
Humba added that this is unlike the Northern teams such as Karonga, Chitipa and Hammers which have a good backing from their respective communities.
“Even the relegation of Baka FC was because Karonga district already had Karonga United as its ambassadors. Such a situation stifled the community’s capacity to support both teams in the Super League,” he said.
However, NRFA general secretary Masiya Nyasulu differed with Humba’s observation.
He attributed the Northern Region’s rise in the Super League to a deliberate initiative that sees the region organising a bonanza at the end of each season as a platform for their newly-promoted outfit to identify talents to beef up their squads with.
“As the North League, we came up with this deliberate initiative that ensures our newly-promoted teams remain strong as they get into the highly-competitive top league,” he said.
CRFA general secretary Antonio Manda said the region has been having the highest number of teams in top-flight football because they put in place proper structures for supporting their ambassadors.
“We agreed as a region that we should always ensure that all our representatives have strong financial capacity and get back-up support whenever they are in need of assistance. We always do our best to secure sponsorship for sides that appear to be struggling financially,” he said.
“We also introduced awards for our referees, a development that helped to improve officiation and ensure only the best teams get the Super League slot.”
