De Villiers leaves his brand on PSL

THE Premier Soccer League, a billion rand industry according to its chairman Irvin Khoza, yesterday parted ways with its fourth chief executive officer in just under five years.

Khoza, who said he was not alarmed by the departure of another CEO in Brand de Villiers, due to a plethora of potential candidates, made the announcement following the league’s annual general meeting and 30th anniversary celebration in Boksburg.

De Villiers has been “poached” by Multichoice and will join their Africa division early next year. Khoza downplayed the fact that in just under five years, the PSL had cut ties with Norwegian Kjetil Siem, Zola Majavu, Stan Matthews and now De Villiers. Top lawyer Majavu quit the post less than four months into the job.

Khoza said he had had a hard time convincing all of them to stay on because they were moving on to greener pastures. “It’s not nice to lose quality people,” he explained. “But it speaks volumes about the calibre of people we attract to the National Soccer League if a company as powerful as Multichoice can go for our CEO, and the Norwegian Association can do the same.

“Mr Majavu is the busiest lawyer in town as you have seen for yourselves since he left us. It means we are attracting quality all the time and that is the price you pay. I guess it’s a good omen, but at the same time we have given ourselves a structure. So it’s not about an individual.”

The hunt for a new CEO begins in the first week of December, Khoza revealed. The members of the executive committee will meet to decide whether to advertise the post or headhunt a replacement.

Asked whether finding a suitable candidate would be challenging, the PSL chairman suggested that it would be relatively painless.

“Football is not an easy industry,” Khoza said. “There are a lot of people with the right qualifications, but you need more than that. That is why an advantage is having the sporting background, but that is not a must-have criteria. If you have administrative capabilities, then you have a chance.

“There are a lot of CEOs in the country who would love to be the CEO of the PSL. But we are looking for someone who can spend the extra hours because football is not a nine-to-five job. The trends are changing and we have grown this into a billion rand industry.”

De Villiers, meanwhile, leaves the PSL without any notable achievements during a tenure that lasted two-and-a-half years. Armed with a rugby background, De Villiers joined the PSL in June 2013 and was somewhat unknown in football circles.

“I can only say it was an unbelievable privilege and honour to be part of the soccer fraternity. The organisation went from a R1.3-million turnover in 1985 to an R800-million rand business in just a number of years,” De Villiers said.

Mato Madlala, the Golden Arrows owner and member of the PSL executive committee, will serve as the acting CEO until a replacement is found.