DUSHANBE, 28.01.2022 (NIAT Khovar) – This year’s first meeting of the Executive Committee of the Football Federation of Tajikistan (FFT) was held yesterday.

The agenda of the event included the discussion of five issues.

According to the agenda, the Director General of the Football League of Tajikistan (FLT) Sayvali Shokurbonov spoke in detail about FLT events held in 2021.

The meeting also focused on issues related the organization of events under the auspices of the FLT in the new season.

The FFT Executive Committee approved a new formula for holding 2022 Tajikistan’s football championship among top league clubs.

This year the first stage of the championship, which will start in early April, will be held according to the standard scheme. All 10 clubs will play 18 matches, which will be divided into two rounds (home and away).

In the second stage, 10 teams will be divided into two groups. The points scored in the first stage will be saved.

According to the results of the first stage, the top five clubs will play in Group A in one round. The remaining five clubs will play in Group B in a single round. In total, according to the results of the 2022 season, each team will play 22 matches in the championship. Such a reform will increase interest in the matches of the championship — especially in the second stage.

Also, in the context of the pandemic and financial difficulties, the FFT Executive Committee decided not to increase the number of clubs in the top league to 12 in the 2023 season. The issue of increasing the number of clubs, starting from 2024, will be discussed in a year.

In the work of the Executive Committee of the FFT, a new format of the limit for legionnaires in the championship of Tajikistan was approved. If earlier the Premier League clubs could add six foreign players to their application, then from this year each team of the championship of Tajikistan will have the right to add a maximum of seven foreign players to the application for the season, while five foreign players can be on the field at the same time.

The venue for 2022 Tajikistan’s Super Cup was also approved at the meeting. This right went to the TALKO-Arena stadium in Tursunzoda. The match for the Super Cup between Istiklol and Khujand is scheduled for May 8.

The meeting also focused on increasing the number of competitions for backup clubs of the top league and first league, as well as changing the format of the FFT Cup, starting from 2023.

The FFT Executive Committee also approved the Croatian specialist Petr Segrt, who has a UEFA Pro category coaching license, as the new head coach of the national football team. He will prepare the team for the 2023 Asian Cup qualifying tournament, which will be held from June 8 through June 14 in a centralized format. The Croatian specialist is tasked with leading the team to the 2023 Asian Cup, which will be held in China.

Also, the FFT Technical Director Salohiddin Gafurov reported on the results of the technical department for 2021 and the tasks for 2022.

The Director of the Futsal League of Tajikistan Furkat Ahmadjonov also reported to the Executive Committee who was offered measures to eliminate the shortcomings in the work on the further development of futsal in Tajikistan.

Additionally, the Chairman of the FFT Financial Committee Farhod Rasulzoda spoke at the meeting of the Executive Committee.

Following the meeting, the results of the audit of the FFT financial activities for 2020 and the budget of the organization for 2022 were approved.