Fifa give permission for PSL season extension

Fifa have given permission for the Premier Soccer League (PSL) season to be extended beyond the 31 August deadline that had previously been set by chairman Dr Irvin Khoza.

The PSL believe they need six weeks to finish the current 2019-20 season, and had set a deadline of the end of next month to do so, having committed to that date with Fifa, according to Khoza.

That stems around the need for clarity on the transfer window dates for Fifa’s Transfer Management System (TMS), which is a tool used to record and verify the international transfer of players. But Fifa have written to the South African Football Association (Safa) and given permission for these dates to be moved later, including the start of the 2020/21 campaign.

“We are glad with the clarification we got from Fifa and we have already started preparation of the referees,” Safa CEO Tebogo Motlanthe said. “They will arrive at the camp in batches and I want to assure everyone that the match officials will be ready, come 1 August 2020 when the PSL kicks off.”

However, the cost of completing the season to clubs and the league had reportedly opened up discussions among teams in the top two divisions over whether the 2019-20 season should be cancelled, and efforts put into starting the next campaign.

Clubs might have to fork out as much as R3-million each to stay in a bio-bubble environment in Gauteng.

The National Soccer League Board of Governors is due to meet this week to discuss their options and make a decision on whether to complete the campaign.