Pro League Committee outlines plans to continue growth of Arabian Gulf League

Al Ain star Omar Abdulrahman, right, is one of the standout stars in the Arabian Gulf League. Courtesy: Arabian Gulf League

ABU DHABI // The Pro League Committee (PLC) launched its strategic plan for the next four years on Thursday, as it seeks to continue the Arabian Gulf League’s recent growth.

The PLC, the body that governs the UAE top flight, laid out its objectives at the Dust Thani in Abu Dhabi, with the pillars of the programme to be branding, financial independence, partnerships and professionalism.

The PLC said it has worked closely with the Arabian Gulf League’s 14 clubs to determine the plan’s ultimate goal and the initiatives that need to be implemented.

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“The vision is now clear,” said Abdullah Al Junaibi, the PLC chairman. “But the main role upcoming is how can we implement that. There is something in place now — a structure — that we can appraise, whether we’ve done the right things or the wrong things, and gauge how far we went in doing that. That’s how important it is to have a strategy.”

Last week, the PLC tasked Deloitte, the financial auditing company, with analysing the current financial landscape of the top-flight’s clubs. Deloitte are expected to suggest mechanisms to help clubs, many of whom are running at a significant loss, control their expenses.

Asked how the new strategic plan will help curb overspending, Al Junaibi said: “It’s a major issue. You can see clubs will keep spending and spending. But at the end of the day, they might win a certain competition or they might not, but what do they get after that?

“There’s big figures involved — their budget is a loan that they should really spend wisely. We need to encourage expenditure to reduce and income to increase. So changing their mentality, setting up rules and regulations, that will be the answer.”

Al Junaibi said the PLC hopes to have decided upon the measures that need to be implemented within the next six weeks. The proposals will then be put to the clubs. Once in place, those not breaking even or making a profit after the first few years could face a number of penalties, including a ban on registering new players, or demotion to the First Division.

“It will take time, it will be gradual,” Al Junaibi said. “It was the clubs who actually came to us to ask for something to be done, they requested it. So we’re optimistic.”

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