Shillong, Aug 5: Meghalaya’s most eagerly anticipated football tournament – the Shillong Premier League 2025 – will begin on Wednesday with Nangkiew Irat taking on Nongrim Hills in the opener.
Kick-off will be at 5:30pm as the SPL 2025 launches under the bright lights of the SSA Stadium at First Ground, Polo.
Although it was several months ago and with different players, it is worth noting that Nangkiew Irat and Nongrim Hills were involved in two high-scoring matches in SPL 2024. The first saw Nongrim Hills triumph 5-2 but Nangkiew Irat fought back in the second leg and won it 4-0.
Nangkiew Irat finished in a commendable fourth place last season and they will be aiming to break into the Top 3 this year, while Nongrim Hills were seventh in 2024 with high hopes for an improvement in form in 2025.
Shillong Lajong are the defending champions, having lifted a fifth SPL title in dramatic fashion on the last day against second-placed Mawlai. Rangdajied United were third and Laitkor and Langsning were fifth and sixth respectively while Sawmer were just out of the relegation zone in eighth position. Malki, who last featured in the SPL in 2022, will be returning this season having won the First Division 2024, while runners-up Mylliem are making their debut in the local top flight.
The Shillong Sports Association, the organisers of the league, have decided this year to introduce a new shorter, snappier format where the SPL will be played over one leg, with each team playing all the others once. The club that secures first place at the end of the 45 matches will be crowned SPL champions and the second-placed team will be the runners-up.
With nine matches per team, this means that every single one is absolutely vital and the clubs will need to bring their A-game right from the start of what promises to be an exciting season.
Relegation will apply as normal to the SPL – the bottom two teams from the league will drop down to the First Division in 2026. The top six teams will progress to the new SSA Super Cup – the SPL champions and runners-up will qualify directly, while teams in positions 3 to 6 will first battle it out in playoffs before proceeding to the main event, which will feature two semifinals and a final.
