Myanmar National League

Myanmar National League
Countries  Myanmar
Confederation AFC
Founded 4 March 2009
First season 2009
Number of teams 12
Levels on pyramid 1
Domestic cup(s) Myanmar National League Cup, MFF Cup
International cup(s) AFC President's Cup, AFC Cup, AFC Champions League
Current champions Yangon United FC
(2011)
Most championships Yadanabon
Website http://www.myanmarnationalleague.com
2011 MNL season

The Myanmar National League (MNL) is the premier national professional football league of Myanmar. In 2009, the league replaced the Myanmar Premier League, which consisted only of 14 Yangon-based football clubs, with eight professional clubs representing different regions across the nation.[1] On 16 May 2009, the league launched its inaugural two-month tournament, Myanmar National League Cup 2009 in preparation for the first full season in 2010.[2] Despite its national ambitions, the league held the MNL Cup 2009 matches in the country's two main stadiums in Yangon due to lack of adequate facilities elsewhere. On 5 July 2009, Yadanabon FC defeated Yangon United FC in the MNL Cup final to become the first-ever MNL Champion.

The league has added three clubs for the 2010 season[3] and one more club joined for the 2011 season, bringing the total to twelve clubs.[4] One more club representing Chin State will participate in MNL season starting in January 2012.[5]

Contents

History

Professional football competition in Myanmar has existed only in a limited form. All premier leagues up to this point are made up of Yangon-based football clubs, most of which are outfits of government Ministries. It was only after 1996, when the Premier League (Burmese: ပထမတန်း) was relaunched as Myanmar Premier League that non-government clubs were invited to join the league. Still, the league was based only in Yangon, and never caught the imagination of Burmese football fans who follow European football with near religious fervor.

The Myanmar Football Federation sought approval from the government to launch a nationwide league in February, 2008, and finally received permission to set up private clubs in December, 2008. Each club will be permitted to sign at most five foreign players and one foreign coach. The government has granted each club tax exemptions for an initial three-year period, while each club owner must provide a minimum of K200 million (approximately US$200,000) for initial investment. It is expected that the annual operating cost for each club will be about K500 million (US$500,000).[1] The investment apparently covers costs such as salaries, transportation and equipment, but does not include the clubs stadiums, which are all nationalized.[6]

Champions

For Burmese champions before 2009, see Myanmar Premier League.

Myanmar National League Cup
Year Club
2009 Yadanabon
Myanmar National League
Year Club
2009/10 Yadanabon[7]
2010 Yadanabon
2011 Yangon United

Clubs

The league started out with eight clubs but has expanded to eleven clubs, starting in the 2010 season. One more club, Rakhapura United joined MNL in the 2011 MNL season.

Club Stadium Best Finish # Championships
Ayeyawady United F.C. (formerly Delta United) Kyaut Tie Stadium 2nd 0
Kanbawza Kanbawza Stadium 3rd 0
Magway Magway Stadium 3rd 0
Manaw Myay Swomprabom Stadium 9th 0
Naypyidaw Zabuthiri Stadium 10 0
Okktha United Taungoo Stadium 6th 0
Rakhapura United Sit Twe Stadium 0
Southern Myanmar United Yamanya Stadium 7th 0
Yadanabon Ba Htoo Stadium 1st 2
Yangon United Yangon United Sport Complex 1st 1
Zeya Shwe Myay Monywa Stadium 2nd 0
Zwegabin United Hpa-An Stadium 11 0

Topscorers

Year Best scorers Team Goals
2009–10 Soe Min Oo Kanbawza 12
2010 Lipe Lipe Okktha United 20
2011 Charles Obi Yangon united 18

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Han Oo Khin (March 9–15, 2009). "New era for football". The Myanmar Times. http://www.mmtimes.com/no461/sport01.htm. 
  2. ^ Han Oo Khin (March 30-April 5, 2009). "MFF announces May domestic cup competition". The Myanmar Times. http://mmtimes.com/no464/sport02.htm. 
  3. ^ "MNL season opens in style". Myanmar Times. 2010. http://www.mmtimes.com/2010/sport/515/s51501.html. Retrieved 9 June 2011. 
  4. ^ "MNL expands ahead of 2011 season launch". Myanmar Times. January 2011. http://www.mmtimes.com/2010/sport/555/sport55501.html. Retrieved 9 June 2011. 
  5. ^ "၂၀၁၂ ၿပိဳင္ပြဲတြင္ ခ်င္းကိုယ္စားျပဳ အသင္းတစ္သင္း ပါ၀င္ ယွဥ္ၿပိဳင္မည္". Soccer Myanmar. http://www.soccermyanmar.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=12674:2011-10-02-17-46-03&catid=54:myanmar-national-league&Itemid=104. Retrieved 2 October 2011. 
  6. ^ Min Lwin (2009-04-20). "Burmese Soccer League an Election Ploy?". The Irrawaddy. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=15502. 
  7. ^ "Yadanarbon retains MNL title". Myanmar Times. January 2010. http://www.mmtimes.com/2010/sport/507/sp50701.html. Retrieved 9 June 2011. 

External links

Myanmar National League Seasons
2009  · 2009-10  · 2010  · 2011
International Competitions
Club Competitions
Age Related
Member associations
Top level football leagues of Asia (AFC)
† Provisional Associated Member