Source: ZimLive
ZIFA blocks PSL plan to freeze relegation, insists 4 teams must go down.
Associations at war after PSL clubs vote.
HARARE – The Premier Soccer League (PSL) and the Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) were at loggerheads on Tuesday after ZIFA rejected a PSL resolution to suspend relegation for the 2025 season and temporarily expand the top-flight.
The PSL announced that its clubs had agreed at an Extraordinary General Meeting on November 18 to freeze relegation for the 2025 season, while promoting four regional winners from the first division as part of a transition toward expanding the premiership from 18 to 20 teams starting in 2027.
Under the PSL plan, there would be a 22-team league for the 2026 season with six teams set to be relegated. With four teams promoted from the lower league, the competition would revert to 20 teams in 2027, which the PSL said aligned with global practices.
The PSL also said it proposed a phased rollout of a new National First Division League within the next three years.
But ZIFA immediately pushed back sharply.
In a statement, the association said the PSL’s resolution “cannot be implemented,” stressing that relegation remains a mandatory part of competition integrity.
“Promotion and relegation are fundamental components of football competition,” ZIFA said, confirming that four teams will be relegated at the end of the 2025 Castle Premier Soccer League season, which concludes on November 23.
ZIFA added that any attempt to alter the number of top-flight teams or amend league regulations must be formally submitted to the association and can only be decided by the ZIFA congress, in line with the statutes.
Curiously, the PSL said it was ZIFA’s recommendation to expand the league.
The standoff leaves the future of the league structure uncertain, with both bodies holding firm positions just days before the season ends.
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