The league which carried San Miguel in its name in the last edition has been renamed Red Bull upon the request of main sponsor, the Gorkha Brewery. Both the drinks -- San Miguel and Red Bull -- are the products of Gorkha Brewery. [break]
ANFA made such announcement amidst a press conference in the capital on Tuesday. According to ANFA General Secretary Dhirendra Pradhan, they have formed eight different sub committees to run the league smoothly.
The league featuring the highest 18 numbers of teams for the first time had lowered the cash prizes in different categories in comparison to last edition. Though there has not been any change in the cash prize for winning team, the cash prize for the runners-up has been cut down by Rs 300,000 to Rs 700,000. The winner will bag two million rupees. The third and fourth placed team will be the only other teams to bag cash prizes. They will be awarded Rs 500,000 and Rs 300,000 respecitvely. Top eight teams were awarded with cash prize in the previous edition.
The fair play team will be given Rs 50,000. Instead of motorbike awarded to best players in four different positions -- goalkeeper, defense, midfielder and forward and coach -- in the previous edition, Rs 25,000 will be given to each of them.
Stating the reason behind the decrease in prize money, ANFA President Ganesh Thapa said, “We have put the National League in top priority so there has been a decrease in cash prizes. We have also eliminated some categories. But the national league will include all areas and will also increase the prize money.”
The national league featuring 10 teams in total will include top eight teams among 18 participating teams of the Martyrs League and two from the A division district classified by the ANFA. According to the current ANFA schedule the national league will be held from November 17.
Bottom four teams of the Martyrs League will be relegated to B division. The winner of the Martyrs Memorial League will get a top priority to participate in the newly introduced SAFF Club Championship to be held from 1-15 September in Dhaka, Bangladesh from September 1-15. However, the format of the Club Championship is yet to be finalized, Thapa said.
Meanwhile, ANFA has also introduced a new provision of transferring players on loan for the national league. The teams which qualify for the National League can hire players from 9th to 14th position finishers of the Martyrs Memorial League on the basis of mutual agreement between the two clubs. But such a club can hire only upto five players. “We have introduced this system so that there will be less burden for the club that does not qualify for the national league,” Thapa said.
The expected cost of the Martyrs Memorial League is Rs 11.2 million.
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