Viva Stumbo

Viva Stumbo XI go into the 2025/26 season in the Eswatini Premier League for the first time, having spent their whole existence below the top flight. The club won the Manzini Super League, the third tier, in 2024/25 as unbeaten champions of that regional competition, and the promotion carried them straight into a first National First Division meeting with Mankayane United at Bhunya Stadium in October 2025.

The club, known as Tingculungulu, is a young one by any measure, put together in 2021 around Malkerns and the town of Bhunya. It belongs to Rodney "Stumbo" Charles, a former Denver Sundowns defender, and carries the name of his sponsor, Viva Beverages, into a competition none of its players had faced before this year.

Mankayane United has already become the fixture that matters most, a rivalry with no history behind it but plenty of edge as two Manzini-region neighbours meet for the first time on equal terms. Manzini Wanderers and Manzini Sea Birds sit further down the list of opponents the club will now face regularly.

Viva Stumbo XI have never played a Premier League match before this season, and the step up from a regional third tier to Eswatini's top division leaves them with everything still to prove against clubs that have competed there for years.