PSL to change calendar

SIMBA RUSHWAYA

The Premier Soccer League (PSL) has written a letter to the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) proposing the change of the football calendar to conform to the new Confederation of African Football (CAF) calendar.

The PSL were forced to field champions FC Platinum in the African Champions League before the season ended after CAF had requested that Zimbabwe send their representatives.

The CAF club season will run between September or October and May from 2019 to bring it in line with most African leagues. The local league runs from March to November.

Minutes of an extra ordinary general meeting (EGM) held in Harare on September 24 showed that PSL has sought approval from ZIFA to effect the changes.

“The PSL submitted a letter to the Zimbabwe Football Association proposing the change of the PSL calendar to align it with the new CAF calendar. The EGM resolved that clubs should submit written reports on the state of preparedness in terms of infrastructure, human resources, rules and regulations, that is, matter of force majeure and any other challenges that may need to address in line with the proposed change of calendar,” said the statement.

Currently, CAF Champions League and second-tier CAF Confederation Cup fixtures are played between February and November.

This means clubs involved in the August to May domestic seasons who qualify for the group stages of the CAF competitions are deprived of an off-season break and pre-season training.

The 2019 editions will begin in December 2018 and run until May 2019 with the 2019-2020 seasons kicking off in September or October 2019 and ending the following May.

The biennial African Cup of Nations tournament will move from January and February to June and July from the 2019 tournament in Cameroon.

This decision was announced earlier this year to prevent club-versus-country clashes with an increasing number of European-based Africans reluctant to leave their clubs in mid-season.

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