Senior football in the Algarve may undergo significant changes in the next season, and the creation of a Second District Division is under study, similar to what has happened in the past. The Algarve Football Association expects the number of teams registered for 2015/2016 to grow, which may allow this solution. However, there are other solutions on the table to make Algarve football more competitive.
Carlos Alves Caetano, in an interview with Sul Informação considers that it is necessary “to think about what we want for senior district football. There is a “current” that advocates a First Division and a Second Division. And for two seasons we have been implementing measures to create a Second Division. Last year we couldn't do that, but we're very hopeful that this year we will have enough teams so that, if that's the way, we can do it».
For this to happen, Alves Caetano already has measures in place to encourage more clubs to enroll. «With the strong support in terms of reducing the value of registrations and with an agreement with the refereeing nuclei so that referees at this level cover the same amount they charge in juniors, we think that we will manage to have enough teams to create a second division », reinforces.
We think we will manage to have enough teams to create a second division”.
But the possibility of there being two divisions is not the only solution on the table, although the alternative is more difficult to achieve. “Another way is to have a single division with two zones, but right now we have a problem: there are teams that, given the financial structure, are unable to cover the expense of a senior first division. We have teams that are interested in participating as long as they can play at home, on naked fields that, by regulation in the first division, cannot. We also have teams that competitively prefer to play in the second division, because in the first there are very uneven results. This year we had results with more than seven goals difference», explained Alves Caetano.
According to the president of the Algarve Football Association, "this year we expect to have 24 to 25 senior teams", not least because there are clubs that show more interest in playing in a second division than in the first. «Last year we could have done the championship with 19 teams [there were 18], as in the previous year, but there was one team that wanted to play, but only in the second division, which was Salir. There are a number of teams like Serrano that could join, with these measures that we have, and I don't believe they want to go to Messines or any other place. He wants to play, but on the field he has [naked]. There is also the case of Santaluziense, or Machados, which have bare fields. There are a number of clubs that can come back, but if there is a single division, they don't participate. Of these 24 or 25 teams, it reduces to 21 or 22», he explains.
The fact that, at the beginning of this season, no relegation is foreseen, will not be a problem according to Alves Caetano, since «the regulation of official competitions speaks of 16 teams and we had a meeting with the clubs, before the start of last season , where it was established that they could go down to 14, but that didn't even inscribe in the regulation. Our idea is to comply with the 16 teams that the regulation provides. What happened last year is that there were some teams relegated from the second to the first division, like Carvoeiro United, Mexilhoeira Grande, or Farense B, but then it was decided that we would advance to a single-division championship. So, out there, let's not defraud anyone's expectations, that was defined. If there are two divisions, you can move forward, if it's just one, let's see how many teams there are and how we're going to do it», adds the manager.
The path will be to evolve into 12 teams and make a clearly pro-national division, with a very strong competitive character, where there are downswings”.
In the medium term, there are other changes to be studied, such as the possibility of reducing the clubs that dispute the rise to the Seniors National Championship. “We have to think if we want a more comprehensive First Division as we have had these three seasons, or if we want a shorter but more competitive one. This year we are going to have teams like Quarteirense, Ferreiras, Lagoa, Silves, or Moncarapachense playing, so teams that have traditionally been at the national levels. It will not be this season, as I have already told the clubs that we will have a minimum of 16 teams in the first division championship, but most likely the path will be to evolve into 12 teams and make a clearly pro-national division, with a very strong competitive character. , where there are descents», reveals Alves Caetano.
We have a very extended First Division, with very uneven results. If we have a competition with teams closer together, we create more competitiveness and we manage to create more interest in the public”.
«Many teams that now participate in the First Division, from the 8th round, are playing to meet the schedule. The chances of ascending disappeared and some of them didn't even have that intention», he adds.
Competitive changes can help district football to bring more audiences to stadiums, usually in reduced numbers in most games. For the president of the AFA, this «has a lot to do with the interest and motivation that the games have. We have a very extended First Division, with very uneven results. If we have a competition with teams closer together, we create more competitiveness and we manage to create more interest in the public. People prefer going to see a Second Division game with competitive interest, rather than the First Division, who know, at the outset, that one of the teams has no chance and will only see if they lose by 5, 7,8 or 10. Uncertainty in the result creates us enthusiasm. We have to work out there to bring more people to the stadiums», he concluded.
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