Published in The News
KARACHI: As was expected, Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has decided to reduce the number of participating teams in the 2014 Pakistan Premier Football League (PPFL) to 12 from the current 16.
Of the 16 outfits which will be featuring in the 10th Premier League starting after Eid-ul-Fitr, six teams will be relegated to the PFF League (B Division), as mentioned by the PFF in the technical regulations for the 10th PPFL. Previously, two teams used to relegate from the top league.
The PFF has taken the decision in light of FIFA’s instructions after a FIFA delegation visited Pakistan a few months ago and advised the PFF to make their league more qualitative.
In a bid to prevent the trend of walkovers, PFF has also decided to impose a hefty fine on the teams who will skip any game.
“If a team don’t reach the venue or reach the venue and don’t start the match which is fixed by the PFF, three points and three goals will be given to the opponents and a fine of Rs100,000 will be imposed on the concerned team and a match bonus will be deducted from their overall match bonuses,” the PFF said in the rules.
As already reported earlier by ‘The News’, PFF has also mentioned in its rules that the head coaches of the participating teams must be Licence B holders.
“Only AFC qualified coaches are allowed to sit on team benches as team coach, assistant coach and goal-keeper coach while AFC Licence B qualified coaches are allowed to sit as coach and head coach. If any team fails to have the services of “B” licence coach as team coach/ head coach during the 10th PPFL 2013, a fine of Rs 25,000 per match will be imposed on the team which will violate the rules,” the rules said.
Each participating team is entitled to an official delegation of a minimum of 18 and maximum of 30 players as well as seven officials who must be registered in accordance with the article 18 and 22, the rules clarified and further state that a total of seven officials including manager, assistant manager, coach, assistant coach, goalkeeping coach, doctor/ physiotherapist (and an interpreter in case of foreign coach) may sit on team bench with seven substitutes allowed to sit on the substitutes’ bench.
In order to prevent any embarrassing situation, the PFF has also stopped the players from giving any on-field or post-match interviews.
“All managers are required to submit a manager report within 24 hours after completion of the match, failing which 25 % match bonus will be deducted from their team match bonus,” the rules mentioned.
In the 2013 edition, though, 16 teams will be featuring (as before) which include holders Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), KESC, Muslim FC, Army, PAF, National Bank, Navy, PIA, Chaman’s Afghan FC, Nushki’s Baloch FC, WAPDA, Habib Bank, Karachi Port Trust (KPT), Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) and the newly promoted outfits Pak Afghan Clearing Agency (PACA) of Chaman and Faisalabad’s University FC.
All the participating teams have been advised to send their players/officials registration latest by July 15 failing which PFF will impose a fine of Rs500 per day.