On Thursday, the first-instance club licensing council of the Latvian Football Federation (LFF), re-evaluating the compliance of two clubs with the requirements for participation in the 2023 season of the “Optibet” Premier League, decided to grant a license to “Valmiera” FC and FS “Jelgava”, reports LFF.
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The decisions contain separate reservations to eliminate existing deficiencies.
As reported earlier this week, the license to participate in the competition was granted to eight clubs, five of which were given a deadline for the complete fulfillment of certain criteria, while for two more clubs – “Valmiera FC” and FS “Jelgava” – the decision on the granting of the license was postponed, giving time until for February 2 to eliminate certain discrepancies.
“Valmiera” FC has fulfilled the inconsistencies indicated in the opinion of the financial criterion expert, because according to the statement of the State Revenue Service (SRS) dated February 2, the club has no tax debt administered by the SRS on January 31. Also, “Valmiera FC” has submitted a payment order for the transfer payment made to FC “Shakhtar Donetsk” on February 2.
Therefore, the council has decided to grant a license to “Valmiera FC” for participation in the 2023 Premier League Championship on the condition that the club submits or completes documents for the complete fulfillment of the infrastructure criteria by March 1 in accordance with the fulfillment of paragraph 27 of the regulations.
Currently, the inconsistency indicated by the legal criteria expert for the inclusion of FK “Jelgava” in the legal structure of FS “Jelgava” no longer exists, as changes have been made to the composition of the board of FS “Jelgava”. At the same time, FS “Jelgava” did not comply with Clause 4 of Paragraph 11 of the Regulations during the process of replacing the board member. The Council does not find any other points of the rules, on the basis of which it would be recognized that FK “Jelgava” is included in the legal structure of FS “Jelgava”. Therefore, the financial indicators of FK “Jelgava” are not taken into account in the evaluation of FS “Jelgava”. Therefore, the council takes into account the financial expert’s opinion regarding the individual financial indicators of FS “Jelgava”.
The Council has decided to grant a license to FS “Jelgava” for participation in the 2023 Super League Championship, on the condition that FS “Jelgava” submits or completes documents for the complete fulfillment of the personnel and administrative criteria (paragraphs 41 and 43) by March 1 and eliminates non-compliance with Article 11 of the Regulations. paragraph 4.
The council additionally draws the attention of FS “Jelgava” to the fact that FS “Jelgava” has concluded a cooperation agreement with FC “Jelgava”, on the basis of which the fulfillment of sports criteria is ensured. FK “Jelgava” has unfulfilled financial obligations based on the decisions of FIFA’s legal institutions, and further sanctions by FIFA or LFF cannot be ruled out. Therefore, FS “Jelgava” itself assumes the risk of the consequences that may occur during the season if such sanctions are applied.
The new “Optibet” Premier League season will start on March 11, but the end is scheduled for November 11.
