Report by our chinese collaborator Li Jing

Guangdong FA (China) announces on past June 8th, 2009, that the first ever regional professional sport league in China will be launched in November 2009. The Pearl River Delta Futsal Super League, also known as Pearl Super League is therefore ready to start. This is also the first professional sport league which is managed and run by a company rather than by a government agency in China. PSL will start with 8 clubs with a season consisting of regular season and play-off series. The regular season will be played in three round-robin home and away format and the play-off will feature a final four tournament in home and away knock-out format. The league will be run by the newly-established company Pearl Super League Management Ltd.. Until now, 8 clubs have been successfully admitted as the founding member clubs of PSL, which include Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Nanhai (Foshan), Panyu (Guangzhou), Panyu, Shaoguan and Xinhui (Jiangmen).

Guangdong is the most wealthy and developed province in China, with a population of 80 million and an area of 180,000 square kilometers. In 2007, the GDP of Guangdong over passed US$ 440 billion, which is as high as Sweden and Belgium according to the statistics of World Bank. Although soccer is the most favorite sport in Guangdong, there are only three professional soccer clubs in this province at the moment. Guangdong FA believes there are huge potentials in developing a professional sport league in this region. Any interests of investment in the league or clubs can contact William at futsal@pearlsuperleague.com.









Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com