Jere upbeat 2020 PSL season will get underway
PREMIER Socer League chairman, Farai Jere, remains confident the top-flight league will eventually get underway this year.
The programme, which was supposed to start early this month, has been thrown into disarray following the extension of the coronavirus lockdown by another two weeks.
“At the moment, it’s no longer a sectoral issue but a Government issue because it’s something that is being looked at national and global levels,” Jere said.
“The threat of coronavirus is real and we need to applaud our Government for the good decisions it is taking to protect its people.
‘’We cannot rush to say let’s play football, it will be a big loss for the football family if someone catches the virus at the stadium. We don’t want to lose a single fan, player or official because of the decisions we make.
“We value health, we value life. Even FIFA, in their last communication, they said life is more important.
‘’So, we have to be guided by what the authorities say and we welcome the extension of the lockdown by another two weeks.’’
The domestic football season traditionally runs from March to November and considerable time has already been lost. There are genuine fears the league might fail to get underway this year but Jere is adopting a positive approach. “In the end something is going to give in,” he said.
“COVID- 19 came as a surprise to the whole world. No one ever expected we could all be caught up in such a situation. We were all not prepared but now we are beginning to see people working around the crisis. That’s why you see some governments are beginning to gradually unlock key sectors of the economy.
“So, we will be following, we will see what’s going to happen and we are quite positive that at some point football is going to played this season, obviously with some strict measures which we would need to adhere to as responsible people.’’
There have been suggestions the league could be a truncated one. “I don’t see the possibility of that, we have to go for the full season,’’ said Jere. ‘’ This is my personal view, I don’t want to pre-empt what’s going to happen because I am just a chairman.
‘’ These things need input if all the members but I don’t see it getting shortened. We have to follow the regulations and the recommendations from FIFA.
‘’ The transfer window will be affected and many things are going to change.”
PSL clubs have revealed they accumulated more than $30 million in losses during the pre-season preparations which, right now, might have to be done again. ‘’We could have been in our fourth week in the league. Clubs are incurring huge losses, I think you covered some of the financial implications in
and that is exactly how it is,’’ said Jere. “But, right now, one of the biggest problems we face is about contracts. I am sure this has affected almost every league. We have contracts which were signed with players which should be running up to a certain period. These contracts start giving you value as and when football is being played. But that is not the situation currently. Do you see the magnitude of the loss here?
‘’It’s quite technical because what is going to happen is that we have a player under contract, which is moving, but is not providing service although he is getting his full salary.
“It’s a problem in that you are paying salaries and you don’t have revenue coming in.’’
FIFA have since come up with a set of guidelines to help clubs and players navigate the transfer window confusion and the contractual minefields.
“The COVID- 19 pandemic has clearly had a major impact on the revenues of clubs, not least since matches cannot be played,’’ reads a recent statement from FIFA.
“Football, like other sectors of the economy, has to find fair and equitable solutions tailored to these circumstances, hopefully with a view to protecting jobs and achieving a fair and reasonable balance of interests between players and clubs.
“Accordingly, FIFA strongly encourages clubs and players to work together to find agreements and solutions during the period when football is suspended.’’