Local clubs can start talking to their potential targets as new signing for next season but no move can be sanctioned yet, Ferwafa has ruled. The local football ruling body has given first and second division clubs a go ahead to identify possible new signing, talk to them but no deal can struck between the either parties as of yet. Ferwafa has no written rule concerning the transfer of player(s) from one club to another during the off-season break. Each season, they [football federation administrators] come up with a different way of dealing with the rather sensitive period. For next season, clubs are free to talk to their potential targets but definite deals can only be struck a month before the season starts. According to tentative schedules, the 2007/8 season is planned to kick off mid December, so clubs can only get hands of their acquisitions somewhere between mid-November and mid December, no specific dates have been sanctioned. “At the moment, they [clubs] are free to talk to prospective targets but nothing beyond that,” noted Ferwafa’s Jean Pierre Bazigangango. He added, “Right now, no license can be signed for any players moving from club to another. This will only be done a month before the new season starts.” Sponsorship impasse Meanwhile, Ferwafa are still trying to persuade Bralirwa to enter into a fresh sponsorship deal for the national league. The brewers became the first private company to sponsor the national league in 2004, signing a one-year renewable contract. A year later, the two parties [Ferwafa and Bralirwa] signed a three-year deal but it came to hit a snag after just a year when the federation leadership changed hands. The deal was struck by the former administration led by Maj. Gen. Ceasar Kayizari and his deputy Celestin Musabyimana, now a Caf Executive member representing the Cecafa region. The new leadership led by yet another Afande, this time Brig. Gen. John Bosco Kazura failed to meet the initial standards set by their predecessors, hence forcing Bralirwa to pull out of the deal, though no party came out openly to comment on this. Format change for new season The 2007/8 season topflight league will have 12 teams instead of the normal 14 and as a result of that; four teams were relegated this season while two will be promoted. Umurabyo, Espoir, La Jeunesse and Zebra where demoted to the lower division while Electrogaz and Musanze have qualified for the final of the second division, both will be promoted regardless of the outcome. Ends
