LAHORE, May 5 Fourteen teams will take part in the Pakistan Premier Football League (PPFL) 2009 to kick off in June.
Draws for the event will be issued to the participating teams and technical officials later this month.
Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) decided to retain the top 12 teams of last year's edition plus the top two from the PFF League 2008 for the event. Holders Wapda who clinchéd the last edition played from July 22 to December 6, 2008, became the third successful team in the national championship with seven titles, after table-topper PIA (nine titles), Punjab (eight titles). Six-time winners Karachi is in fourth place.
Army collected the title four times, Allied Bank Limited (ABL) and Balochistan won the top berth thrice, followed by two-time champions Dhaka, Sindh, Pakistan Railways, Faisalabads Crescent Textile Mills. Peshawar, East Pakistan, Chittagong, Habib Bank Limited (HBL), Quetta and Pakistan Air Force (PAF) have managed to win the national event once.
Wapda along with Army, Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Karachi Port Trust (KPT), Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), Pakistan Navy, Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC), Habib Bank Limited (HBL), Chaman's Afghan Club, Faisalabad's Punjab Medical College and Lahore's Pak Elektron Limited (PEL) qualified for the coming 182-match marathon league by finishing among the top 12 last year.
National club Champions 2006 Nushki's Baloch FC and former national champion Pakistan Air Force (PAF) will complete the numbers as the top two teams of PFF League 2008.
PAF returned to A-Division Football after 2003 while Nushki's Baloch FC will be making their debut. Nushki's outfit earned a berth in the final by winning the PFF League (club phase) on March 1, 2009, edging out Chaman's Muslim FC 1-0 in the final at Sibi's Sibi Stadium. Baloch FC also has playing rights in PPFL 2009 for the first time by winning the Sibi finals.
Meanwhile, PAF regained possession in A-Division Soccer after 2003 when they edged out Pakistan Railways 2-1 in the final of PFF League (Departmental Phase) at Jinnah Stadium, Islamabad, on January 31. The winner of the 55th National Football Championship 2009 (or PPFL 2009) will earn the rights to play in the sixth AFC President's Cup 2010.
