PFAJ, PLCA ready to merge – Anderson

Now that the 2019 Red Stripe Premier League season is over, the Professional Football Association of Jamaica (PFAJ) is ready to work with the Premier League Clubs Associations (PLCA) to streamline both entities to run the league next season, president of the PFAJ said.

Earlier this year, CONCACAF mandated that both bodies come under one umbrella as it seeks to professionalise football across the region.

The call for the streamlining of the two entities, which play important roles in the running of the nation's top-flight league, was strengthened when a team from UEFA, the governing body of football in Europe, visited the island last week and suggested that having both entities running the league is an albatross to the growth of game.

Professionalised football

"The streamlining of the two bodies is something that CONCACAF mandated in line with what we call a road map to professionalised football in Jamaica and the region," Anderson explained.

"We didn't expect anything to happen before the end of the season because the two bodies would have to see the season through.

So we will have to sit down with the JFF (Jamaica Football Federation) and the PLCA and work out a mechanism for converging the two organisations into one and this is what is going to take place after we wrap up the league and have a review of the season," Anderson added.

While the PFAJ is in charge of the operation of the league, the PLCA is responsible for marketing and securing sponsorship for the league.

"We are hoping that for next season, we would have one single body governing local football," Anderson added.

"UEFA came here last week and met with all the stakeholders and they are supposed to table a report with recommendations of moving towards this singular body running the premier league," said Anderson.

"We will use the official report of UEFA as a guideline for the streamlining of both bodies."