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The Dutch Football Federation (KNVB) decided to declare the national championship closed on Friday. After the country’s Prime Minister Mark Rutte banned soccer matches until September, the organization decided that the tournament would end with the current table and will have no declared champion, in addition to the fact that there will be no relegation or access for teams from the second division.
The federation’s decision falls within one of the scenarios that UEFA admitted as possible after a meeting last Thursday. The confederation noted that it would accept that national leagues are closed prematurely in the face of government decisions that would ban the sport for a period that would prevent the 2019/20 season from being completed in a timely manner.
- The South Korean Championship will begin on May 8, with changes in regulation.
/i.s3.glbimg.com/v1/AUTH_bc8228b6673f488aa253bbcb03c80ec5/internal_photos/bs/2020/H/I/THqwzYQVadGSw0jHNlPA/gettyimages-1204521213.jpg "Erik Ten Hag's Ajax led the Dutch Championship, tied with AZ - Photo: Getty Images")
Erik Ten Hag’s Ajax led the Dutch Championship, tied with AZ – Photo: Getty Images
- UEFA admits that leagues are closed for health or financial reasons
As UEFA wants the leagues to close in late July or, at most, in the final stretch of August, Dutch football faced a stalemate. And the federation decided the fate of the 2019/20 Eredivisie with the clubs.
KNVB has decided that there will be no champions this season as Ajax and AZ Alkmaar had the same number of points (56) and competed for the lead in the final leg of the competition. Ajax, however, takes the direct place in the group stage of the Champions League, and AZ enters the playoffs.
The most controversial decision was due to the cancellation of the descent for the current season and the consequent prohibition of access for the winners of the second division. There was a vote between the clubs involved (18 in the first division and 20 in the second), and 16 would have positioned themselves in favor of the descent and nine against, in addition to the abstentions. The federation, however, would have overlooked these elections and decided on its own.
Thus, the first division of the Dutch Championship comes to an end with eight rounds to play, in addition to postponed games involving leaders Ajax and AZ. The two teams had 56 points in 25 games played, with an almost identical campaign, with 18 wins, two draws and five defeats. The difference in Ajax’s favor was in the goal difference: 45 against 37 for AZ. The two teams take the places in the Champions League, while Feyenoord, PSV, Willem II, Utrecht and Vitesse qualify for the Europa League.
At the bottom, the clubs that are saved are Fortuna Sittard (who would play the playoff against third place in the second division), ADO Den Hag and the Waalwijk lantern. The clubs that see access slipping through the hands are Cambuur and De Graafschap, who had a good advantage in the first two places in the second division, with 66 and 62 points. Six other teams would play a tiebreaker to designate a candidate to compete for third place in the elite.
