While people across the world have sat down to watch their beloved football, especially if you support a side in a league towards the top of the UEFA rankings, with Germany's Bundesliga coming to a complete end. But across Europe some league's haven't managed to restart yet, so I had a look into how every FA yet to restart has decided to deal with the lockdown and restarting their leagues (if indeed they are restarting).
Let's start with the leagues that still intend to restart.
The Andorra FA had been pushing for football back up and running in the country for a while, with some clubs having returned to training over a month ago, but the government had held back all sporting events from starting up again. Thankfully they were finally given the all clear by the Govern D'Andorra and the league restarted this weekend just gone, where the Primera Divisio went off without a hitch. The same however could not be said for the Kazakhstan Premier League who's league was stopped one match day after restarting, due to the nation going back into lockdown. The situation will be reviewed after 14 days when the league is currently scheduled to restart, but everything is far from certain at the moment. Even less set in stone is the approach the League of Ireland has taken. The FAI recently agreed to restart the league at the end of July following the same format they usually do which has upset a few clubs who believe only one side should be relegated, despite this the FAI are confident that they will get this through without any legal problems on July 31st when the league is scheduled to restart
However some leagues haven’t been so lucky. Here is how Europe’s leagues that can’t restart have decided to do with their season’s.
End as it stands.
The Belgian Pro League was the first league in Europe to wave the white flag and call off their league, and with Club Brugge running away with the league it was an easy choice to crown them champions, but there was more controversy over the other Champions League spot with Gent getting it despite being a single point ahead of Sporting Charleroi when the league was curtailed, Waasland-Beveren were also relegated. As it's been well reported Ligue 1 was ended abruptly with Paris Saint Germain retaining their title, while Amiens and Toulouse going down to Ligue 2 (despite a court ruling), this decision was arguably taken too early but with Sporting events banned until September at the time plus a new TV deal starting next season it made a lot of sense. Professional football sides in France have now returned to full training, the 2020/21 season is set to start on August 22nd. This approach was also taken by the Bosnian Premier Liga to crown FK Sarajevo champions with bottom two sides Celik and Zvijezda 09 going down. The Azerbaijani Premyer Liqa took a slightly different approach, ending the season with Qarabag winning the league and European places stay as they were but there was no relegation. The Maltese Premier League decided to leave the league as it was when it ended, no relegation but Floriana were awarded their record 26th title. San Marino UEFA’s lowest ranking nation followed the same approach giving Tre Fiori their first title in 10 years, but crucially no teams were relegated.
Points Per Game
The Scottish Premiership chose to decide the finishing positions using PPG and as a result Celtic won their 9th consecutive title, while Hearts will be going down to the Championship. They came to this decision by allowing all clubs voting in favor of ending early, prioritise prize money over playing on, the decisions probably weren’t too hard to make especially when the outcome of the league seemed inevitable. Northern Ireland also decided to finalise their season with the PPG system, Linfield were given their 54th title while Institute were condemned to the second division. The nicest story caused by PPG could be found in Wales, where Connah’s Quay Nomads were awarded their first ever Cymru Premier title and will have a shot at qualifying for the Champions Leagues while unfortunately Airbus UK Broughton and Carmarthen Town face the drop.
Null and Void
Maybe the fairest way besides playing it out, but certainly the least gratify. The Netherlands, Gibraltar, Cyprus, Luxembourg and Macedonia all decided to use this method to close out their current season. This wasn’t unanimously accepted but all sides however, with Ajax and AZ both furious that they didn’t have the chance to win the Eredivisie title while the latter are also mad that they’ll be placed in the much harder Champions League qualifying route, never mind the grief felt but Cambuur and De Graafschap who won’t be promoted despite running away with the league and the bottom two being cut adrift at the bottom. The same can be said for football fans in Cyprus who were set to see a new league winner for the first time in 8 years, although at least technically APOEL aren’t champions anymore, although the top two in the second division have been promoted and thus forcing a league restructure. Besides The Netherlands each league is yet to decide which teams will partake in UEFA competition but Eredivisie used the table as it was when the league finished.
In the end I have to say that while finishing a league the good old fashioned way on the pitch, it’s not always possible (especially in the event of a global pandemic), but it doesn’t mean that there isn’t narrative to keep these leagues exciting on or off the pitch. And that only the British Isles believes in Points Per Game.
By Tom Bowdery