Albanian soccer clubs plan protest after PM turns down request for support

By bne IntelliNews September 30, 2020

Albanian football teams announced a major protest in front of the PM Edi Rama's office on October 10 after Rama turned down requests for more financial support for the country’s soccer clubs, local media reported on September 30.

The government dispute with soccer clubs led most of the top clubs to boycott the start of the season. The football association appealed to the government to exclude players from income tax for up to 10 years, instead only for two years, and also wants value added tax to be reduced for all soccer-related economic activities from 20% to 6%. A new law on sponsorship.is also required.

The Professional Football League (LPF) is determined to continue boycott and escalate protests, Albanian Daily News reported.

The members of the LPF are hopeful that the government will meet their demands as soon as possible. The LPF will also intensify contacts with government negotiator with Fidel Ylli for this purpose.

“The government has no obligations to soccer. Soccer is an industry,” Rama was cited by Associated Press on September 29, adding that the soccer is independent and the clubs may continue the boycott if they want to.

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