The Bhutan Football Federation (BFF) has revised its league structure. The move is aimed at lifting the standard of football in the country. The new structure means the Bhutanese football league system will be played in three divisions from now on.
The revised structure was presented to the club owners and managers in Thimphu yesterday.
In the new structure, the Bhutan Premiere League will be the top domestic league with 10 teams taking part. It will have the top five teams of the BoB National League 2018 and Bhutan Super League.
The double leg league will start from June next year.
The Bhutan Super League will be the second division league with 10 teams participating. It will be a single leg league played in Thimphu only.
The third division league- the Dzongkhag League, is expected to feature 10 teams each from Thimphu, Paro, Phuntshogling and Punakha. The competition will be played in respective districts.
The top team from the participating districts will qualify for the Super League.
“We worked on the new structure after receiving numerous feedbacks from different clubs. They said the current league system is not long enough. Due to this, they are not able to retain their players,” Kinley Dorji, who is a Competition Officer with BFF, said.
“Earlier, we did not have any Dzongkhag League and many new clubs had direct entry to the National League. However, with this new system, the clubs will have to play the Dzongkhag League, Super League and Bhutan Premiere League. We hope the new system will help in developing the standard of the game.”
However, some club owners were not happy with the Dzongkhag League. They say the league received the least importance with lesser budget and matches.
“We feel the Dzongkhag league is at disadvantage because we have very limited matches to play,” Ugyen Tshering, the Founder of Motithang FC, said.
“The distribution of budget is also not done properly. We get only Nu 50,000 for the Dzongkhag League. If we qualify for the Bhutan Super League, we get only Nu 100,000. On the other hand, the teams from Bhutan Premiere League would get Nu 200,000 and when they are relegated, they would get another Nu 100, 000,” Ugyen Tshering added.
The participants gathered also suggested making the Dzongkhag League available in other parts of the country as well.
The BFF says they plan to do so.
“Since we already have well-established clubs in Punakha, Phuentshogling, Paro and Thimphu, we are starting the league in these districts as a pilot project. It is not that we don’t have any plans in other districts. In the coming years, we will take the league to all the districts,” BFF’s Kinley Dorji said.
The new structure is expected to provide clubs with a proper roadmap, which is not there currently. It is also expected to help in enhancing the growth and sustainability of the football clubs.
The new structure will be implemented with the Bhutan Super League in April.
