The Senegalese Professional Football League (LSFP) announced several innovations on Friday concerning its competitions and their broadcasting.
The Coupe de la Ligue, one of the flagship competitions of the LSFP alongside the championship, will now be exclusively dedicated to players under the age of 20 from the 32 Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 clubs. This tournament, previously open to seniors since its created in 2009, is undergoing a complete overhaul this year, indicated Papa Momar Lo, vice-president in charge of LSFP competitions, during a press conference held at its headquarters in Dakar.
“The formula has completely changed. It all started with strong demand from clubs. The observation is that the small categories play fewer matches than the seniors. However, we cannot develop football without young people being able to have more matches in their legs. All professional clubs have U20s, U17s, and others. Each club must field juniors with three seniors “, he explained.
The tournament will take place in eight groups of four teams (home and away matches), with two qualifiers per group who will advance to the round of 16. This first edition in this format, considered a test year, will take into account geographical zones to limit travel and rationalize team expenses. For example, pool A brings together Casa Sport, Saloum, Kaffrine and Essamay (south and center), while pool E brings together Teungueth FC, AS Pikine, Jaraaf and AJEL (Dakar).
The competition will begin on February 5 and end on June 18. The specific regulation is being finalized by the legal commission headed by Me Pape Sidy Lo. The bonuses have not yet been set, but the sponsor remains the Prime Minister, Ousmane Sonko, whose cabinet received those responsible for the project on Thursday.
A new price list
The LSFP also unveiled a new price list for the broadcast of matches. From now on, viewers will have to pay 1,000 FCFA to follow all eight matches of each day, compared to 800 FCFA previously for only each of the four matches. This broadcast model via the LSFP digital platform concerns all matches of the elite championship, after a test phase over the first ten days played so far.
A season pass will be available at 10,000 FCFA for the national public, while for the diaspora, the price remains set at 3.99 euros per day or 20 euros for the entire season. According to Papa Momar Lo, technical errors detected during the first broadcasts will be corrected to guarantee better quality of broadcasts. These various initiatives, according to LSFP officials, aim to improve the income of clubs and the league, which have long been faced with a lack of resources and sponsors.
However, the pay per view project, launched at the start of the season, continues to divide fans of local Senegalese football. Some believe that this monetization of content could alienate fans, while the championship was beginning to reconnect with its audience thanks to free broadcasting on YouTube by the clubs.
The LSFP justifies the resumption of control of its content by a desire to create additional resources in order to better financially support the clubs, held for a long time by subsidies from their presidents or the sometimes derisory sale of their best elements.
ODL/te/Sf/APA
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