Frank Mojah Dzuwa, Andrew Mdzumira & Rachael Kaphaizi
The inaugural FDH Bank Premiership has completed its first round, showing a noticeable difference in scoring compared with the same stage of the 2025 TNM Super League.
The first round of the 2026/27 season produced 248 goals in 120 matches during the opening round. This is four fewer than the 252 goals recorded in the same number of matches in the 2025 TNM Super League.
However, this season’s race for the Golden Boot has set a higher individual benchmark than last year.
FCB Nyasa Big Bullets striker Ephraim Kondowe has topped the first round with nine goals, one more than last season’s top scorer at this stage last year.
Kondowe is followed by Blue Eagles forward Tonic Viyuyi with eight goals. Four others, Mighty Wanderers’ Lameck Mithi, Silver Strikers’ Festus Duwe, Ekhaya FC’s Blessings Malinda and Moyale Barracks’ Lucky Mkandawire, finished the first round with five goals each.
Promoted trio make their mark
The first half of the 2026 FDH Bank Premiership season has provided a striking contrast to last year’s promotion story, with Masters FC, LUANAR Mitundu and Red Lions demonstrating that newcomers can compete from the outset.
After 15 matches, Masters sit fifth with 22 points, while LUANAR Mitundu and Red Lions have 20 points apiece, occupying eighth and ninth positions respectively.
The three sides have amassed a combined 62 points from their opening 45 matches, a significant improvement on the 51 points collected by last season’s promoted trio—Ekhaya FC, Blue Eagles and Songwe United—at the same stage.
Ekhaya made the strongest start among last year’s promoted sides, sitting fourth with 26 points after the opening round.
Blue Eagles were seventh with 23 points, while Songwe United endured a difficult introduction to top-flight football, managing just two points from 15 matches.
This season, however, there has been no such gap between the newcomers.
Masters have recorded six wins, four draws and five defeats, scoring 17 goals and conceding 16. Their 22 points place them firmly in the top half of the table.
Mitundu have collected five wins, five draws and five defeats, scoring 12 goals and conceding 13, while Red Lions have produced an identical record and goal tally.
These figures reflect increased competitiveness among the promoted sides, with all three reaching at least 20 points after the first round.
Masters will now aim to build on their strong start and remain among the leading teams. Mitundu and Red Lions, meanwhile, will hope to turn their promising first halves into even stronger positions as the second round begins.
Moyale, Eagles with an improvement in the first round
Moyale Barracks FC has shown improvement in the 2026 FDH Bank Premiership first round, finishing sixth with 21 points from 15 matches.
The Mzuzu-based solders finished 10th at this stage last season with 18 points and a minus four goal difference.
This season, they have climbed four places, gained three more points and improved their goal difference to minus one.
Blue Eagles have achieved an even greater turnaround, finishing the first round at the top of the table with 31 points from 15 matches.
The Malawi Police team were seventh after the first round last season with 23 points. They have therefore gained eight points and climbed six places to top the log table.
Both sides have improved significantly compared with the same stage last season, but Blue Eagles’ rise to the summit is the more dramatic change as the league enters the second round.
Gate revenue collection
The 2026 FDH Bank Premiership generated K1.083 billion in gate revenue during the first round, an increase of about K18.5 million from the K1.065 billion collected during the same period last season.
Wanderers, Bullets, Silver Strikers and Ekhaya have the largest shares of the revenue.
Wanderers received K93 million, followed by Bullets with K88 million, Silver Strikers with K39 million, and Ekhaya with K25 million.
Together, the four clubs received K245 million from first-round gate revenue.
The 2026 figures also show that K284 million was spent on match day expenses, compared with K212 million during the first round of 2025.
