Moçambola-2025 will be drawn next Tuesday (22), marking an important point towards the start of the 48th edition of the 1st Division National Football Championship..

The event will take place in the city of Maputo, as the last act of a day in which the Mozambican Football League (LMF), the body responsible for organizing the competition, meets with its member clubs to hold its 30th Ordinary General Assembly.

A publication by Challenge newspaper says that last Friday (11), the chairman of the General Assembly of the LMF, Alcido Nguenha, issued a call to the affiliated clubs to hold the magna meeting that will discuss the life of the institution.

According to the agenda for the meeting, the clubs will have to consider, approve and sign the minutes of the (last) 29th General Assembly, discuss and approve the accounts and activities report for 2024 and, finally, discuss and approve the activities plan and budget for the current season.

In the meantime, although the draw for Moçambola-2025 is not necessarily and objectively scheduled to take place during the work of the General Assembly, it will take place, as it has on previous occasions, shortly after that meeting.

According to the president of the LMF, Alberto Simango Júnior, quoted in the same publication, the draw for Moçambola-2025 would take place next Tuesday, on the sidelines of the magna meeting.

According to the leader, at the end of the meeting and taking advantage of the presence of all the affiliated clubs, the LMF board will draw lots for the National Championship. This is a recurring practice in which, on the day of the General Assembly, after the conclusion of the respective proceedings, the draw for the championship is made.

For the 2025 season, Moçambola will be contested by 14 clubs. The Black Bulls Association, União Desportiva de Songo and Costa do Sol, the national champions, second and third-placed teams, respectively, will carry over from last season. The others carrying over from 2024 are Ferroviário de Maputo, Ferroviário da Beira, Ferroviário de Nampula, Ferroviário de Lichinga, Associação Desportiva de Vilankulo, Desportivo de Nacala and Baía de Pemba FC.

Qualified through their respective regions, Moçambola will be joined by Desportivo da Matola, Chingale de Tete and Ferroviário de Nacala, from the southern, central and northern zones respectively. Meanwhile, following the withdrawal of Brera Tchumene FC, the Mozambican Football Federation (FMF) is expected to announce today the team that will take its place and become the 14th participant.

It should be noted that after not starting on March 29, as planned in the FMF's competitive calendar, the LMF has scheduled the start of Moçambola-2025 for May 17.

(Photo DR)