16 teams’ league inevitable

MBABANE – Elite league sides endangered by relegation might breathe a sigh of relief if requests and proposals to change the MTN Premier League to a 16-team league see the light of day.

The 2023/24 Premier League of Eswatini (PLE) Rules and Regulations state that the two clubs with the least points at the end of the season shall be axed to National First Division (NFD).

According to reports, which had been also confirmed by PLE Chairperson Mark Carmichael, teams have made a proposal to increase the number of teams at the top tier. He said this was also discussed by the teams during the Eswatini Football Association (EFA) Administration and Management Course.

Carmichael also revealed that there were some stakeholders who had requested that teams be increased in the elite league to meet the international required number of at least 40 competitive games to be played by a player in season. The Denver

Sundowns boss clarified on these issues yesterday after a failed statutory Board of Governors (BoGs) meeting.

The meeting was penned for the Sigwaca House, which was rescheduled for another date to be communicated by the PLE.

“There is a glaring thorn in the country when a player is supposed to play for the national teams when you’re told a player to be at his competition needs to play a certain number of games, but when you observe where we are today, sponsors are yet to fully embrace this challenge. We have that challenge and how do fix it. Those rumours are immediate solutions to improve Sihlangu,” he said.

RELEGATION

He said as premier league, they were not assisting teams that were in the relegation zone, however, they wanted to have commercial values. He also said one had to understand that sponsors looked at crowd-pulling power as a league.

The Sundowns boss said in their 16 teams, they would be able to introduce youthful players without having to rely on senior players. He said such a league format would assist the PLE achieve its vision of having younger players in the league.

Carmichael said there were proposals and requests from the clubs and some stakeholders who understood the country’s need to be competitive. He said they would wait for a formal meeting to discuss the proposals after yesterday’s meeting did not take off as they could not form a quorum.

He highlighted that after the meeting, they would then be in a position to see how those resolutions would come out on the table. Notable is that yesterday’s meeting was statutory in terms of Article 49 of the PLE Statutes.

It is a facilitator the annual general meeting (AGM). It endorses the policy meeting of the organisation’s on the table and takes resolutions for adoption in the next AGM.

Meanwhile, there are reports that the MTN National First Division (NFD) League will be converted into a development league.

(More on this NFD story in tomorrow’s publication)