Kofi ran and returned with the TopStar carton. Inside was the decoder, remote, cables, and the most important piece of plastic—the with a 13-digit number on it. Without that number, activation was impossible.

A few seconds later: “Enter activation code:” But no code came.

That night, as Power Dynamos scored a last-minute winner, Mr. Banda raised his Mosi and smiled. He was no longer a decoder owner—he was a decoder master.

At minute 14, the screen flickered. The blue screen vanished. Suddenly, the ZESCO United team was jogging onto the pitch, the crowd singing.

It was a Saturday evening in Lusaka. Mr. Banda had just rushed home from the market with a bag of kapenta and a cold Mosi. His son, little Kofi, was already bouncing on the sofa. Tonight was the big Super League match—ZESCO United vs. Power Dynamos.

TopStar uses a system called , powered by Zambian mobile money. Mr. Banda had an Airtel line. He dialled *115# and selected “Buy Airtime,” loading K30 onto his phone. But the activation fee was K80. He called his neighbour, Mrs. Chilufya, who sent him K50 via MTN Mobile Money. Within two minutes, his mobile wallet had K80.

“Yebo!” Mr. Banda shouted. They’d made it with one minute to spare.

His heart sank. He’d bought the decoder three days ago from a shop in Kamwala, but never activated it. Now, kickoff was in 40 minutes.