BELGIUM’S LOGIC COULD BE ANSWER TO EFL CONCLUSION

THE football season in Belgium is over. Why? Because it can be. When matches were curtailed at the start of March with one game to play, Club Brugge were 15 points clear and had already been declared regular season champions. What would then have happened is the points totals of the top six clubs would have been halved, rounded up, and they would have played the post-season championship to decide the winner.

Wisely, the organisers of the Jupiler Pro League decided this was unnecessary. They gave Brugge the title and awarded the European Europ spots to the teams in places two to fivfive. Waasland-Beveren, bottom club by two points,p were relegated. Belgium’s Belgi unique logistics gave them a way out of lockdown — one that cannot be as simply sim replicated elsewhere. It helped thatth every club had played the same numbern of games, 29, and that a title had h already been awarded. Predictably, the dull minds of UEFA then got involved, warning that unfinished leagues might not have their teams admitted a into European competitions nextn season. Yet, for the most part, a fair fa pecking order was established in Belgium.

Be At the top, only Charleroi — who trailed Gent Gen by one point and might have swapped swap a Europa League place for a berth in the Champions League third qualifying round — could feel aggrieved. Likewise, relegated releg Waasland-Beveren might have caught caugh Oostende on the final day. So it wasn’t perfect, perfe but it was a reasoned solution. Equally, even if football reconvenes this summer, it will be hard for the EFL to get through the play-off stages as well as the regular season in time for the 2020-21 campaign. Similar logic could be applied. Those promoted automatically go up, those in the play-off places stay down. It would be harsh but relatively resistant to legal challenge because it would be difficult for any club to prove in court it would have won promotion through play-offs which are historically so unpredictable.