Is Satoshi to leave the Cambodian Premier League?
There have been intense rumors over the last week that Satoshi Saito is set to leave his role as the CEO of the Cambodian Premier League (CPL). Our sources have further stated that the plan is for the league to continue, but with the Football Federation of Cambodia finding a replacement CEO.
It should be noted though that these are currently unconfirmed rumors, although they have been confirmed by a number of independent sources.
Satoshi and the Cambodian Premier League
Satoshi Saito who has previously worked for Barcelona among other clubs was hired as the CEO of the new Cambodian Premier League in late 2021, with the remit of using the new league as a vehicle to improve domestic football within Cambodia.
You can read our interview with him here.
Progress within the league has been somewhat mixed since, with the few improvements often being overshadowed by the many controversies that have hit the league.
The problems with the Cambodian Premier League
There have been many problems with the CPL, but chief among them has been money and how smaller clubs have been treated. Between 2022 and 2023 around 9 clubs went bankrupt, or dropped out of the league, as opposed to just one in the preceding 3 years.
Bankrupt clubs included household names such as EDFC, who were allegedly denied promotion despite winning CPL 2. Said bankruptcies also marked an actual regression in the number of clubs, despite claims that the CPL wanted to see a “club in every province”.
Other financial issues haver included a failure to get a league sponsor and thus more money for clubs, as well as teams in the second-tier (which is now largely made up of reserve sides) complaining that they are not receiving payments either on time, or at all.
It should be emphasized that these are still rumors, nothing has been confirmed, and that this is very much an ongoing story.
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Author: Reece Ferguson
Reece is a South-East Asia based writer and journalist that originally hails from Northern Ireland. He has previously written for Philippines Lifestyle News, as well as for our previous publication Khmer Nights.
