PSL plays it safe, prolongs season

17 January 2017 - 09:46 By Nick Said
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Soccer ball. File photo.
Soccer ball. File photo.
Image: Gallo Images/Thinkstock

The Premier Soccer League has officially extended the end of the Absa Premiership season to June 17 and pushed the Nedbank Cup final to June 24 as it tries to cram in the remaining 2016-2017 fixtures.

Mamelodi Sundowns' success in the CAF Champions League, their participation in the Fifa Club World Cup in Japan and the staging of the CAF Super Cup next month have seen the Premiership season extended by three weeks.

The season was originally scheduled to finish on May 27 but because of the above, as well as Fifa fixtures in early June, will now only conclude on June 17.

These changes have the potential to complicate the PSL's promotion-relegation matches, which might then only finish nearer to August when the new 2017-2018 season is about to start.

Should the promotion-relegation winner be a club from the National First Division, they will have no chance to prepare for the new campaign in terms of fitness or new signings.

"The 2016-2017 season has been extremely challenging to manage for the league," the PSL said yesterday. "It has been necessary to take into account external factors such as the Olympics, the Africa Cup of Nations, and the impact that Sundowns' achievements had on our programme.

"The amended fixture list also accommodates the four South African clubs playing in the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederation Cup.

"Unfortunately, the league has had to make provision for possible further amendments in April-May 2017.

"The nature of these changes, [if any], will, to a large extent, be determined by how our four clubs in the CAF competitions perform..."

- TMG Digital

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