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Afghan Premier League


FieldValue
nameAfghan Premier League
countryAfghanistan
confedAFC
founded
teams8
level1
confed_cupAFC Cup
championsShaheen Asmayee (5th title)
most successful clubShaheen Asmayee (5 titles)
tvTOLO
Lemar
Eleven Sports
website
foldedsuccessor=Afghanistan Champions League

Lemar Eleven Sports

The Afghan Premier League, also known as Rahmani Foundation Afghan Premier League for sponsorship reasons, was a professional men's football league run by the Afghanistan Football Federation (AFF). It was the country's primary competition for the sport. The league was contested by eight teams. The competition commenced in September 2012. Seasons usually ran from September to October followed by a finals series involving the top two highest-placed teams in each of the two tables of four teams. The national champion gained qualification into the continental competition. Most games were played at the Afghanistan Football Federation Stadium in Kabul.

Since the league's inaugural season, a total of three clubs were crowned Afghan Premier League champions. Shaheen Asmayee, won a record 5 premier league titles. The league was folded in 2020 and was replaced with the Afghanistan Champions League.

History

The Afghan Premier League was established in 2012 replacing the Kabul Premier League, with the first season running through September and October of that year. 8 teams were concurrently established in 2012 to become the inaugural competitors. Before 2012, the league in Afghanistan was broken down into 7 groups that covered the country.

Players for the league were selected with the help of a reality television talent show called Maidan-e-sabz ("The Green Pitch"), helmed by Mukhtar Lashkari, star of Tolo TV, Afghanistan's equivalent of The Oprah Winfrey Show. The concept came from the Afghanistan Football Federation and the Afghanistan-based MOBY Group, which owns a number of TV channels and radio stations and is the largest media group in the country. MOBY Group channels will broadcast matches. Players were voted onto teams by a jury and by the television audience. The 34 provinces were grouped into eight larger zones. Eight teams of 18 players, one from every region, were formed.

The Afghan High Peace Council praised the creation and development of the League as an, "opportunity to bring peace and stability" to Afghanistan. The process has given opportunities to minorities such as the Hazara who were treated as a underclass. Many players and supporters had undergone considerable trauma for which the League serves as a form of therapy. Along with the Shpageeza Cricket League which started in 2013, Afghan Premier League football was one of the few big sporting competitions in Afghanistan, offering precious relief from the violence of everyday life.

Shaheen Asmayee FC won a record 5 Afghan Premier League titles (2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2020). They were the only team to have reached the Afghan Premier League final in eight consecutive seasons (2013–2020). The league was discontinued after 2020 and replaced with the Afghanistan Champions League.

Champions

YearChampionFinal resultRunners-upTop scorerGoals
2012Toofan Harirod2–1Simorgh AlborzHamidullah Karimi (Toofan Harirod)9
2013Shaheen Asmayee3–1 a.e.t.Simorgh AlborzHamidullah Karimi (Toofan Harirod), Hashmatullah Barakzai (Shaheen Asmayee)7
2014Shaheen Asmayee3–2Oqaban HindukushMohammad Riza Rizayee (Oqaban Hindukush)6
2015De Spin Ghar Bazan3–3 PenaltiesShaheen AsmayeeMustafa Afshar (De Maiwand Atalan)5
2016Shaheen Asmayee2–1 a.e.tDe Maiwand AtalanAmredin Sharifi (Shaheen Asmayee)6
2017Shaheen Asmayee4–3 a.e.t.De Maiwand AtalanAmredin Sharifi (De Maiwand Atalan)5
2018Toofan Harirod1–0 a.e.t.Shaheen AsmayeeYar Mohammad Zakarkhel (Toofaan Harirod)
2019Toofan Harirod1–0 a.e.t.Shaheen AsmayeeRaoof Qaderi (Shaheen Asmayee)
2020Shaheen Asmayee1–0Simorgh AlborzJavid Mirzad (Oqaban Hindukush),
Mostafa Rezaei (Simorgh Alborz)3

League wins by club

ClubWinsWinning years
Shaheen Asmayee52013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2020
Toofan Harirod32012, 2018, 2019
De Spin Ghar Bazan12015

Media coverage

Private media group Moby Media Group had the official rights to cover all matches of the ACL. The matches were aired live on the company's two television channels in Afghanistan, namely TOLO and Lemar, and also offered live commentary on their radio stations, Arman FM and Arakozia FM.

Sponsorship

Roshan Telecom was the title sponsor of Afghan Premier League after which it was named as Roshan Afghan Premier League from 2012 to at least 2018. Official Partners of Afghan Premier League were Afghanistan International Bank and Hummel International which provided kit for the teams.

References

References

  1. "Afghan Premier League on Latestinfos.com".
  2. "Preview & post reports". AFL.
  3. "Afghanistan - List of Champions".
  4. (2008). "Activity Report Second quarter 2007". Afghanistan Football Federation.
  5. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-19668215 Roshan Afghan Premier League a hit with fans] {{Webarchive. link. (2019-08-28 by Tahir Qadiry ([[BBC News]], 22 September 2012))
  6. Guido Mingels. (October 25, 2012). "New Football League Helps Heal Afghanistan". [[Spiegel Online]].
  7. (28 August 2012). "Talent search at Hindukush". fussball.de.
  8. Rezwan Natiq. (10 October 2012). "Afghan Football League Heads to First Semi-Final". [[Tolo News]].
  9. (September 15, 2017). "Afghanistan cricket fans defy bombers as T20 league takes off - Sports News". [[India Today]].
  10. (October 31, 2018). "A quick review of the RFAPL 2018". APL.
  11. (October 2, 2019). "A quick review of the APL 2019". APL.
  12. (11 July 2012 }}{{dead link). "Afghans Launch First Professional Football League". nz.sports.yahoo.com.
  13. "YouTube – Afghan Premier League".
  14. (2015-07-09). "Roshan Renews Commitment to Support Afghan Premier League".
  15. "Afghan Premier League – Sponsors".
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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