Africa-Press – Lesotho. The Lesotho Football Association (LEFA) held a consultative workshop for clubs on Tuesday at Bambatha Tšita Sports Arena to discuss several issues in football.
46 club presidents were invited and among the issues discussed were club licensing, safeguarding in football, player registration, the local and international calendar as well as new amendments to LEFA’s regulations.
LEFA secretary general Mokhosi Mohapi said the whole idea is to ensure local competitions are more consistently regulated while also giving more opportunities to local talent.
“We have to make sure that (football is) well-regulated consistently.
In other leagues that we have globally, we don’t just focus on one league, we focus on a global perspective, so a number of issues are aimed at making local football more exciting,” he said
“This is in line with our strategic plan to give more opportunities to the locals and, as you know, the government came in and said: let us try as much as possible to localise and give more to the home-grown talent,” Mohapi said.
One of the resolutions of the workshop is that LEFA should tighten its rules when it comes to the compliance of clubs to club licensing. Just two weeks ago, LEFA club licensing officer Teboho Letseka said LEFA is growing tired of licence applications that are late, subpar and do not meet the requirements.
Participants also agreed that LEFA should tighten compliance in the area of safeguarding within the club environment as well as strictly enforcing regulations pertaining to the quota of foreign players at local clubs.
As things stand, Vodacom Premier League clubs can register five foreigners but only three can be named in the match-day squad. In the A-Division three foreign players can be registered while just one can be named on match-day and LEFA will continue to be strict when it comes to the number of spaces available to local players.
It was also agreed that qualifications of coaches will be revisited while Lesotho top two leagues will now use head-to-head records instead of goal difference to separate clubs.
As a result of Likuena enrolment in the 2024 African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifiers, nothing much can be changed regarding the start of the new season which is scheduled to kick-off towards the end of September.
Midweek games are again highly probable this season and the workshop suggested that LEFA should meet clubs halfway by availing its facilities to teams at no charge in the event of games that have to be played during the week.
Speaking to reporters after the workshop, Lioli president Lebohang Thotanyana said it was important for club presidents, as the leaders of teams, to be equipped with skills on how to handle administration and what needs to happen in order for our teams to comply with LEFA’s club licensing regulations.
He said that is especially the case because football globally is becoming more and more organised. “Football is an industry with jobs and to have that there must be skills, workshops are vital so that we understand what’s important and how we protect our player’s welfare,” Thotanyana said.
“This is important for us if we want to reach the level of other countries where football is a job. We are working towards getting there.”
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