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KARACHI: The organisations and clubs that field their teams in the Pakistan Premier Football League have agreed to also form their under-19 teams by July 2014.

A decision to this effect was taken at the managers’ meeting of the participating teams at the PFF headquarters in Lahore on Wednesday.

If any department or club failed to form under-19 team, it will not be allowed to participate in the league, the PFF said.

In the meeting, chaired by the PFF secretary Col Ahmad Yar Khan Lodhi, the matter of inducting three junior players in the playing XI was also discussed. But the participating teams did not like the idea and said that such a formula would go against their interests.

However, as an alternative, the participating teams agreed that they would form Under-19 teams in the next two years.

In the meeting, also attended by the PFF Director Development and Competitions Pervez Saeed Mir, various issues regarding the Premier League came under discussion.

The Premier League, carrying 16 teams, will kick off at different centres of the country from September 1.

The players’ transfer fee has also been slashed substantially. The previous transfer fee was Rs7000 which was reduced to Rs2000 in case of transfer of a player from department to department and Rs1000 from department to club.

Match commissioner will as usual supervise the whole game and his words will be final.

Each participating team shall be equipped with two sets of uniform. If the teams playing against each other have the uniform of the same colour then the host team will wear a different colour.

In order to avoid any complication, it will be the responsibility of the visiting team to inform the hosts in advance of their uniform colour.

All the managers have been advised to submit the names of their home grounds to the PFF by July 30.

If the PFF did not find any venue in perfect condition during inspection before the league, the alternative venue will be chosen by the federation.

The managers were told that their home grounds should be in perfect condition and there should be sufficient grass.

The representative of Chaman’s Afghan FC promised that they would prepare a grassy ground at Chaman in two months. It was agreed that Chaman’s outfit should go ahead for preparing their ground and if they are able to prepare the pitch in the stipulated time, they can host their matches there.

Last year, Afghan FC and Muslim FC had to host most of their matches in Quetta because their home ground did not have sufficient grass.

Meanwhile, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA), which had skipped the National Challenge Cup due to shortage of players, are on the verge of hiring four players, one of them a very good goalkeeper in a day or two.

The teams to take part in the four-month long competitions are the defending champions Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), Afghan FC (Chaman), Army, WAPDA, KESC, Muslim FC (Chaman), PIA, Navy, PAF, KPT, HBL, NBP, Baloch FC (Nushki), PMC Athletico (Faisalabad), and freshly promoted sides Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) and Lahore’s Wohaib FC.