Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Normalisation Committee President Haroon Malik has unveiled that a hybrid league model, which includes a franchise league and a tiered league structure, for Pakistan football’s domestic structure is in place.
In a Podcast with ProPakistani the PFF-NC Chairman said that he wants to conduct a pyramid league system that will go on throughout the year so that the young footballers can have a system where they can earn, grow and develop.
He emphasized that the development of players is important hence a domestic league will be introduced that will be conducted for more than 8-9 months however he claimed that the franchise ‘competition league’ is also important to increase the brand value of football in the country and attract sponsorships.
Pyramid System:
A pyramid system football league is a league that has multiple tiers in it with Promotion and Relegation. For instance, the English pyramid system has the Premier League which has 20 teams out of which 3 teams are relegated annually to the second tier which is the EFL Championship.
Similarly, three teams are promoted each year from the EFL Championship to the Premier League which gives small teams a chance to earn more revenue and compete at the highest level.
Moreover, the third tier of the English Pyramid known as League One has 24 teams while the fourth tier (League Two) also comprises 24 teams. England has more tiers and lower leagues as well but these are the four main leagues of the Pyramid system.
The pyramid system ensures youth development through proper football academies that help in the development of young footballers at the grass-roots level.
Franchise League:
A franchise league is like the Pakistan Super League, it does not have a relegation or promotion system hence smaller clubs can never get a chance to play in the Franchise league, as it is a closed shop.
Franchises are often owned by multiple partners and the owner acquires the rights or the license of a club as a stakeholder. The owner does not completely own that franchise rather they pay a certain amount to own the rights of the franchise.
For example, if an entrepreneur tries to own the brand McDonalds then he will try to acquire the license of the McDonalds brand and that can only be done if they pay franchise fees.
Hyderabad Football Club, Delhi Dynamos, and Pune Football Club were all Indian Super League franchises that had to face bankruptcy, financial crisis or had to close their operations as a franchise due to the franchise fees that they had to pay to Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) yearly.
FSDL comes under the umbrella of Reliance company owned by the Indian conglomerate Mukesh Ambani who brought the Indian Super League into existence in 2014.
The league ownership by Ambani brought an influx of cash to Indian football and since then football has been on the rise in India.
Franchises do not guarantee youth development and they do not release their players during international events. This has often been the case in India as last year some of the franchises did not allow their players to play for India in the 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou.
Parth Jindal, the owner of Bengaluru FC, wrote to Nita Ambani, the Chairperson of Football Sports Development Limited (FSDL) in 2021, citing losses of ‘₹25 crores every season.’ The letter further highlights the delicate financial condition of India’s premier league competition as well.
Haroon Malik’s Hybrid Model:
PFF NC Chairman Haroon Malik stated in the podcast that the PFF will conduct a 6-8 weeks franchise league.
The last ‘FIFA-recognised’ league was held in Pakistan in 2015, the 2018 league was conducted by Syed Ashfaq Hussain Shah through third-party interference of the Supreme Court of Pakistan which elected him as PFF President.
Pakistan Premier League of 2021 was halted due to the political attack of Syed Ashfaq Hussain Shah and his allies on PFF House, that league was conducted by Haroon Malik’s Normalization Committee.
“We have conducted a division championship in the 142 districts of Pakistan and the top 16 clubs will be extracted from these knockout divisional championship matches. There will be tiers in this league which will have promotion and relegation at the end of the season. The matches will be played in a round-robin format every week throughout the year.” stated the PFF NC Chairman.
“While the pyramid system league will go on throughout the year, we will conduct a league of 6-8 weeks in between to help Pakistan football get global recognition with foreign players, private investors, and sponsorship,” he said further.
PFF NC Chairman’s statement is a testament to the fact that he believes in a hybrid model of football, where two leagues will run simultaneously.
When asked when these franchises of the league will be sold, the PFF President said, “The franchises will be sold next year and there will be a proper bidding process for this.”
However, here lies the question that which winner of these two leagues will qualify for the Asian Football Confederation Competition i.e. (the AFC Challenge League).
It should be noted that Pakistan has one spot for the playoffs in the AFC Challenge League competition and if Pakistan had a league this year they would’ve sent the winners to participate in the Challenge League.
In the podcast, it was discussed that the Pyramid League will be run like a ‘Quaid-e-Azam Trophy’ cricket model while the Franchise League will be held for a month like the Pakistan Super League.
Haroon Malik’s grand plan can work in the long term but the underlying issue here is that he has a mandate till December as the PFF elections will be held during that time.
Once his mandate ends, on a constitutional level he will not have the mandate to conduct any kind of league which means that the time is ticking and the PFF NC Chairman will need to find a way to carry out these tasks on time.
Pakistan football league is at a crossroads right now, with elections looming the country needs a breakthrough in terms of a football league. It has to be seen who wins the race against time, football, or politics.
