The General Assembly approved amendments to the LFA Statutes
The General Assembly approved amendments to the LFA Statutes
"I'm glad an agreement has been reached. We are returning to the original idea of the LFA, which was to break the LFA out of the football association election mechanism," said LFA chairman Dušan Svoboda. "There are no major changes to the functioning of the LFA as such since the management powers already were under the authority of Executive Director, currently Tomas Barta, on the basis of a mandate authorised by the Committee. Newly, everything will be incorporated in the statutes, it is just a formal change," he added.
The staffing method the League Committee will acquire is inspired by the Polish model. The essential changes are divided into three areas:
(a) changing the way the LFA League Committee is filled,
(b) the tenure length of the LFA League Committee members,
(c) the abolition of the position of LFA President and two Vice-Presidents delegating their powers to the LFA League Committee and LFA Executive Director whose role and competences are strengthened in a number of areas.
As regards the filling of the League Committee, the new version of the LFA Statutes maintains the current number of seven members. However, the way in which this is done has changed fundamentally. Starting 2024/25 season, the following applies:
a) The four members of the Committee shall be appointed by the clubs that finish in the top four in the final table of the first league in the previous competition year.
b) One member shall be nominated and elected by the remaining twelve first league teams.
c) One member shall be appointed by the second league club that ranked highest in the final table of the previous season and did not qualify for the first league. (the so-called "first non-promoted").
d) One member shall be nominated and elected by the remaining fifteen teams of the second league.
The members tenure will also be significantly modified. Previously, the LFA League Committee members were elected for four years, now it will be one year only starting July 1 and ending June 30 the following year.
The Control Committee made up of three members remain unchanged and continue in their current format. The existing principle that a member club can only have one representative in the LFA League Committee and in the LFA Control Committee concurrently is also maintained.
Two changes in the second league
The General Assembly also approved two changes that will only affect the second league. As part of the Stadiums 2023 project document, the obligation to have an artificial lighting installed at all second league stadiums from 2024/25 season has been postponed. This obligation is now postponed until 2025/26 season.
At the same time, however, if club do not have the artificial lighting installed at their stadium for 2024/25 season, they will not be entitled to the remuneration increase coming from the TV, marketing, advertising, and radio rights. Their remuneration would therefore remain the same as before.
The second change is the adjustment of the number of substitute players on the bench in the second league. Until now, the clubs have been allowed to seat seven players as substitutes on the bench, but as of 2024/2025 it will be eleven players like the first league.
