PSL joins World League Forum

Sports Reporter
THE Premier Soccer League has joined the World Leagues Forum (WLF), a body of professional football leagues from around the globe that represents their interests.

By joining WLF, the country’s football flagship will gain global exposure as well as commercial growth.

Zimbabwe has been invited to the AGM that will be held in Mexico on November 29.

The Zimbabwe PSL becomes the sixth African league after Algeria, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Guinea.

PSL chief executive Kennedy Ndebele revealed that Fifa master programme graduate Brightwell Kadenge facilitated their membership of WLF.

Ndebele said the league’s association with WLF will foster close ties with topflight leagues around the world as well as develop Zimbabwean football through learning from other advanced nations.

“We stand to benefit greatly from our membership, as we get a chance to learn and co-operate with advanced nations in the operations and management of football competitions and all aspects of the game,” Ndebele said.

WLF is chaired by Richard Scudamore, executive chairman of the English Premier League. It represents 37 members and was established in 2016.

Some of the members include the English Premier League, Italy’s Serie A, Spain’s La Liga, Germany’s Bundesliga and France’s Ligue 1.

The objectives of WLF are to help develop modern, effective governance structures within world football that respect football national bodies’ role, to foster cooperation between the leagues and their member clubs through knowledge sharing and exchange of best practices with an emphasis on helping emerging leagues in their development and to represent the leagues and their member clubs on all matters of common interest towards sport and political institutions.

Membership is open to any football league that operates top level competitions in its country.

The leagues must have a legal structure and statutes of their own. They must also be financially independent with their own administration structure and a dedicated board.