Belgium’s Pro League cancelled with Cub Brugge declared as champions
Belgium have called an end to their pro football season with them ending the 2019/20 Jupiler Pro League season and handing Club Brugge the league title. This comes after football, amongst other sports, was suspended over the COVID-19 pandemic in an attempt to contain the virus across the world.
The board of directors of the Belgian Jupiler Pro League have unanimously agreed to cancel the rest of the season and decided to hand Club Brugge the league title. There was only one match of the regular season remaining before the league was suspended before a play-off round was to be played to decide the champions and the top positions. But, Club Brugge has a fifteen point lead over KAA Gent and the playoffs would pit the top six sides against each other to decide the champion.
However, the board of directors of the Pro League have decided that the play-offs will not go ahead with the decision to be made official on April 15. But the Champions League and Europa League places have been decided with Club Brugge the champion. KAA Gent plays the preliminary round of the Champions League and, at the moment, RSC Charleroi goes straight into the group stages of the Europa League with Royal Antwerp and Standard Liege in the preliminary rounds.Â
Neither relegation or the promotion spots have been decided and the statement released by the league went on to admit that while they could have held the games behind closed doors, they did not want the additional pressure. It also revealed that it was a unanimous decision made by the board of directors and it goes with what a large majority of the clubs voted for.
"The Pro League board of directors met today by conference call. The most important item on the agenda was obviously the issue of continued competition in the context of the coronavirus crisis. The current situation, particularly precarious, in which our country finds itself has as a consequence that sport is not and cannot be considered as the first concern, however entertaining and relaxing it may be. In this context, it is the responsibility of the Board of Directors to make a recommendation, taking into account public health, the interests of all stakeholders and the wishes of the majority of clubs to not resume competition," the statement said.
"The current situation does not allow us to know if and when a resumption of collective training can be planned. In addition, a resumption of competition could not exclude the risks to the health of players, employees and all those involved in the organisation of matches and in maintaining order. In addition, the possible contamination of a player or a core of players risks influencing the sporting development of the rest of the competition in an unacceptable manner.
"The Board of Directors unanimously decided that it was not desirable, whatever the scenario envisaged, to continue the competition after June 30. Taking into account the above elements, the Board of Directors made a unanimous recommendation to not resume the competitions of the 2019-20 season and to accept the current classification of the Jupiler Pro League as classification final, subject to the decisions of the licensing commission," it further added.
But an important caveat: Belgium has a playoff system after 30 games. They had played 29 of those games, and most of the affected teams had decent gaps. So effectively all they've done is cancel the playoffs. Not sure that solution would hold as easily in, say, Italy or Spain.
— Rory Smith (@RorySmith) April 2, 2020