PREMIER Soccer League chairman Farai Jere says the explosion of the business of football to become a multi-billion-dollar global industry has been one of the greatest success stories since World War II.

And, the domestic top-flight league, he says, are on a grand mission to ensure they are not left behind by the roaring train.

This has led them to come up with a host of interventions, like their inaugural International Football Symposium, in Victoria Falls.

The Harare businessman, who took over as the league’s boss in September last year, told delegates his league was being driven by a burning desire to join the big tent, where their counterparts in South Africa and Zambia, were feasting from commercial partnerships.

The old model, where survival was sorely pitched on gate receipts, said Jere, had become outdated. He said while the local top-flight league continued to punch above its weight, when it comes to CAF inter-club competitions, as witnessed by success stories written by FC Platinum and Triangle in recent months, the potential to do even better was there.

The decision to hold the symposium, in a resort town synonymous with the best in tourism in this country, Jere said, was a masterstroke in an age where football, and business, had become Siamese twins.

‘‘We meet, ladies and gentlemen, against a background of the success which our two representatives clubs – FC Platinum and Triangle United – have written in the CAF inter-club competitions,’’ Jere said.State media