First Victory-New Radiant league match in 7 years kicks off today

The leading two teams in Maldives' football, New Radiant and Victory, are set to face off against each other in the league for the first time in seven years in this afternoon's Dhiraagu Dhivehi Premier League match. 

The two teams were relegated to the second division in 2019 by Football Association of Maldives, citing their failure to pay players' salaries. This season marks the return of both teams to the first division. 

Victory was promoted to the first division through making it to the top two teams in the second division in the last season. New Radiant received the chance when Super United Sports (SUS) relinquished their spot in the first division, and next-in-line Tent Sports failed to take up the opportunity.

New Radiant and Victory played against each other twice in the second division over the past three years. This resulted in one win for New Radiant, and one for Victory. Both matches drew large crowds of spectators. The two teams, considered the top rivals of local football, are working to draw similar crowds for today's match as well. 

Both teams are dedicating today's match to their success in the 80s.

New Radiant is dedicating the match to the 1982 team which is the first New Radiant line up to win the national tournament. The team will be on the field today wearing the same green and white striped jersey that the 1982 team wore when they had defeated Victory 2-1 in the historic match. 

Victory, meanwhile, is honouring the 1985 team that won the national trophy through beating New Radiant in penalties. Marking 40 years to this win, Victory is sporting today the team's classic red jersey that their team had worn in the 1985 finals. 

Victory and New Radiant have been strong rivals dating back to when there was competition between the wards of Male'. These are also the two local teams which have the highest number of supporters. 

In this season, New has won the first three matches played in this league. Of Victory's three matches, they won just one. However, Victory has stated that the team is now improved, with today's match being the first the team is playing under their new coach Gergely Geri. 

Today's match is set to start at 3:50pm.