PSL in bid to market brand
IN a bid to market its brand to an international audience, the Premier Soccer League will hold its first ever football symposium in Victoria Falls in October where a world acclaimed line-up of speakers will be in attendance.
The symposium is set for October 10-12 and will offer a platform for leading football experts from around the world, football enthusiasts and various stakeholders and fans to discuss, analyse and share ideas on the game’s development.
“The objectives of the symposium are to grow and market the PSL football brand, to create a networking forum for football stakeholders, to share and exchange ideas for the benefit of football and its stakeholders as well as to promote sports tourism,” said the PSL in a statement yesterday.
The line-up of speakers will include representatives from the World Leagues Forum (WLF), various heads of international and regional leagues and local experts.
The PSL became a full member of the WLF in September last year, becoming the sixth African league after Algeria, South Africa, Kenya, Nigeria and Guinea.
The WLF represents 37 members and was established in 2016. It is chaired by Richard Scudamore, executive chairman of the English Premier League.
Other members of the WLF include the EPL, 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.
“This football symposium promises to be an innovative event featuring a series of presentations on governance, club licensing, sponsorship, media and sport tourism. These presentations will go a long way towards promoting and improving all aspects of Zimbabwean football through learning from other advanced leagues,” said the PSL.
The symposium is open to football clubs, tourism players, financial institutions, other sporting codes, regional leagues, media organisations, football sponsors, corporates, football fans and tertiary institutions.