admin
Grace Chingoma
Sports Reporter
THE Premier Soccer League will scale up the implementation of Club Licencing next year with the setting up of an independent committee that will assess the work done by the clubs thus far.
Local football is yet to fully embrace the tenets of the FIFA and CAF club licensing that was introduced locally in 2016.
The Club Licencing system is the gateway to professionalism and is a framework that aims to revolutionise and professionalise the game.
Once implemented to the fullest, it will produce vibrant clubs and in turn, a formidable national team since professionalism starts at club level.
And the PSL board of governors recently resolved to complement ZIFA’s efforts and also set up a specific independent committee for the Premier Soccer League.
Already ZIFA have the First Instance Body, a decision-making body that was set up a few years ago to check on the implementation of the criteria through advocacy for stadia development and standardisation of coaches.
The PSL chief executive, Kenny Ndebele, said they hope that by the time the season starts the committee would have done some checks.
“The clubs must strive to satisfy some of the requirements from the pillars of the club licensing system. The club licensing has five pillars, thus personnel and administrative criteria, sporting criteria, financial criteria, infrastructure criteria, and legal criteria.
“We want to scale up the implementation of club licensing next year. The board agreed to set up an independent licensing committee. So this committee will be assessing the clubs’ progress and report to the board,” said Ndebele.
The veteran administrator said the committee will look up at some of the requirements, for instance from the administrative and personnel pillar, they would look at club structures, and club secretariat, on the sporting pillar they will assess the club’s junior teams’ proposals and written documents and on the infrastructure pillar, they would assess training facilities and lease agreements of individuals clubs.
“The clubs must also have a written youth programme. Some clubs own stadiums and some lease so they must have documentation to that effect.
“The independent committee will make recommendations and reports to the board,” said Ndebele.
The league hopes that the top-flight will fulfil the exercise which mustn’t be seen as an exercise to suffocate the clubs but to help them adhere to requirements.
Some clubs have already met some minimum requirements of the club licensing set by ZIFA.
In 2020, FC Platinum were the first club to be issued with a CAF Club Licensing certificate by ZIFA when they were participating in the CAF Champions League.
The Zvishavane side early this year moved a step higher when they formed a women’s football team as required for all clubs that will take part in the CAF competitions.
A template of the club licensing tenets outlines how each one of them helps the game when implemented.
Sporting criteria — This means that clubs should never exist without supporting sides. Each club should have a reserve side and youth or junior teams. The development strategy of a particular side should be clear. Head coaches of the Premier Soccer League should be qualified. Under these criteria, the national association, ZIFA should establish a youth league like the Under-17 and ensure that such a league becomes more competitive.
Administrative and Personnel criteria – This important pillar deals with having key and qualified personnel for the day-to-day operations of the club for example clubs must employ general managers or chief executives, security officers and medical staff. Clubs should have established offices with vibrant communication lines. A club should have the same structure as the national team.
Infrastructure — For purposes of affiliation with the Premier Soccer League, a club should produce evidence like a lease agreement that it has been allowed to use a stadium for competitive matches. Such stadiums should meet basic requirements like the VIP lounge, media centre and media tribune.
This criteria dictates that national associations have to encourage their respective governments to play a major role in upgrading facilities. This criteria also mentions a ‘flexible arrangement’ where a maximum of four teams can share the same venue.
Financial criteria — A club must be in possession of audited books of accounts and finances to compete in league and Cup competitions. These audited books of accounts should be ratified by members of the club.
Legal criteria — A club has to exist as a legal entity and be registered with the appropriate authorities. In this regard, a club should have statutes and a constitution registered with the league or Association.
Online Reporter