The Sunday Mail
Petros Kausiyo
Sports Editor
AMID a tough operating environment that is choking the majority of the clubs, the Premier Soccer League have challenged the domestic game’s key stakeholders to urgently revisit the viability of continuing with an 18-team top-flight and the wisdom of the continued demotion of four teams every year.
The elite clubs have stepped up their preparations for what promises to be a competitive 2020 season if the business that has been taking place on the transfer market is anything to go by.
But as the coaches and their management committees run around acquiring new players and also offloading some, the PSL’s chief executive Kenny Ndebele has warned that the viability of the clubs remains under threat in an environment in which having 18 teams has become as unsustainable as is the archaic move to relegate four of those clubs at the end of each year.
In the 20-team English Premiership, arguably the best top-flight in the world today, two bottom clubs are relegated automatically with the third from bottom engaging in play-offs with runner-up teams from the Championship.
It is a similar scenario in the 20-team La Liga while in the 16-team Absa Premiership in South Africa, the bottom side gets automatic relegation while the team that finishes 15th participates in Promotion Play-offs with two other member clubs from the National First Division.
PSL chief executive Kenny Ndebele told Sunday Mail Sport that although the issue of the relegation matrix continues to haunt the domestic, conclusive debate on the matter is still a far sight. Yet Zimbabwe is probably the only country in the world where the elite league demotes four teams at the end of each season to accommodate the regional league winners.
There, however, have been serious questions on the viability of retaining the kind of set-up of the domestic Premiership, whose size of 18 teams is also proving unsustainable.
“The 18-team league was discussed at the special general meeting of the board of governors.
“From the symposium (in Victoria Falls) we had a case study of the Swiss League, which has 10 teams. There was acrimony in 2016 over the issue of play-offs but given the economic challenges we have it is important now for stakeholders to revisit the size of the PSL,’’ Ndebele said.
The PSL chief executive said although the country had four regions running the Division One leagues, the sustainability of such a set-up also needs serious reviewing.
“We appreciate that there are four regions but some of them are seemingly struggling to have a full package of teams. You have one region with 18 teams and another with 16.
“There is a National Division which is provided for in the statutes which may be discussed by the ZIFA assembly. ZIFA Exco can also look at it and see how best to handle the situation because that should be the best way to go,’’ Ndebele said.
The PSL boss said the Premiership was also concerned about the lack of venues suitable to host elite league matches, which has always provided a fixture poser for his secretariat at the start of each season.
“There are fewer stadiums that are suitable for PSL games and when some of these teams are promoted they struggle for home grounds. It is a matter that has been discussed at board of governors’ level and in that discussion we also looked at infrastructure hence we are trying to start the season earlier.
“We are also looking at improving stadium management on match days, such issues like ticketing and motor vehicle controls. We are looking at avoiding ticket sales on match days’’.
Ndebele said match venues should not be left “to operate like cemeteries that only come to life when there is an event’’.
“Our stadiums are operating more like cemeteries and are only used on match days yet stadiums should have offices, conference facilities and should be in use every day’’.
Although some clubs that rely heavily on gate revenue have decried the increase of midweek fixtures, Ndebele argued that in modern football, Zimbabweans needed to brace for many such games.
“It’s now standard that you have midweek games for any competitive league around the world because in a 52-week calendar you have 34 match days for the league, cup games, FIFA and Confederation (CAF) games.
“The structure of our football makes it difficult to have midweek games under floodlights because even if we have lights at the stadium with the load-shedding it means fans are going into darkness once they leave the match venue.
“CAF changes have also affected us,’’ he said.
Amid the gloom that has been brought about by poor facilities, Ndebele noted that the successful staging of the Chibuku Super Cup final between Highlanders and Ngezi Platinum at Barbourfields before a colourful and big crowd remains one of the high points for 2019 season.
“The Chibuku Super Cup went on very well from Day One and up to the final…good attendance for the final and it was the best since we reintroduced the tournament.
“Being able to finish our league on time was something also very commendable as well as the hugely successful symposium we held in Victoria Falls with the support of the World League Forum’’.
However, the Premiership’s lack of a vibrant TV deal is still a big worry in an era where globally, clubs are reaping huge financial rewards from television revenue.
“One of the lowest points has to be the issue of failing to secure TV broadcast partners throughout the year though we had ZBC, they could not bring a lot of matches live.
“We also had live streaming but that was on social media,’’ Ndebele said.
He challenged the elite teams to avoid being selective in their application of Club Licensing, which is a FIFA requirement to instil corporate governance.
“We are happy that we have Fidelity coming in to support with the medical insurance, it is a huge step in terms of professionalising football but it is not only medicals, the whole spectre of Club Licensing must be implemented.
“Clubs are still choosing what to implement and it has seen us lagging behind the rest of the continent. On the emotional side of football, we are ticking all the boxes but implementation we are still not exerting much.
“We still have situations where there is no separation in functions between the board and the secretariat hence we still have the old fashioned set up of a secretary-general, organising secretary, chief executive and elected officials at one club.
“This creates an overlap. It’s not in dispute that that everyone is saying football is business but we are not putting in place structures to ensure that we have a business approach in the way we do things,’’ Ndebele said.
