Premier League of Belize: Three teams drop out, one returns; season kicks off Saturday

Published by [email protected] at August 1, 2024

Posted: Thursday, August 1, 2024. 9:34 am CST.

Photo Credit: PLB

By Rubén Morales Iglesias: Premier League of Belize (PLB) teams have been dropping like dead flies leaving only six clubs to kick off the 2024-2025 Opening Season off this coming weekend.

For the 2023-2034 season, the PLB had eight as the San Pedro Pirates opted out of the competition. While the Pirates will be back for the upcoming season, 2023-2034 Opening Season champions Altitude, Benque Viejo United, and Police Benque (Club Deportivo Benque) have dropped out of the competition. That effectively cuts the PLB to six teams for the new tournament: Champions Port Layola, Verdes, Progresso, San Pedro Pirates, Wagiya, and the Belmopan Bandits.

Quite a number of football experts have previously recommended that the PLB cut down to six teams. Now they are at six, though the downsizing wasn’t intentional.

Benque United took over the Police United FC franchise two years ago and last year acquired their own space in the PLB. Club Deportivo Benque took over the Police franchise last season, (that’s the reason for the name Police Benque). Benque United pulled back because of internal problems and Police Benque couldn’t sustain the financial responsibilities of managing a PLB club.

Even a successful team like Altitude, now find themselves in the same boat and have to take a break; at least for a year. However, in Altitude’s case, from what the PLB reports, the club that barely missed qualifying to the Concacaf Central American Cup by points difference to Port Layola, were practically forced to bow out of the upcoming tournament as their home field, the Michael Ashcroft Stadium, is being renovated. Playing out of another venue would have been too expensive.

From what we understand another Benque Viejo del Carmen team, Benque Inferno, applied for inclusion but weren’t accepted. The way things work now, all clubs that play in organized leagues under the FIFA banner have to sign up with FIFA Connect and that is a yearly procedure. To be accepted, the applicants have to meet a number of requirements. The Benque side didn’t succeed in their effort to join the PLB.

With six clubs only, the Opening and Closing Seasons will be shorter by four weeks each. With eight teams the double round robin regular seasons ran for 14 weeks. Now they will only require ten. The playoffs, as long as the format isn’t changed, remain at four weekends for the home and away semifinals and final.

Unless Wagiya and the Belmopan Bandits improve their performance, as compared to the last few years, Port Loyola, Verdes, Progresso, and the San Pedro Pirates will be the favourites to advance to the playoffs.

Now that the hurdles have been cleared, the PLB is ready to kick of the 2024-2025 Opening Season this coming weekend.

Progresso will kick off the season against the Bandits on Saturday, August 3, in Orange Walk. Then, Sunday, August 4, will see champions Port Layola host the San Pedro Pirates in Belize City, while Verdes face Wagiya in San Ignacio.

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