The league board ended the season 2019/20
The league board ended the season 2019/20
When a player from SFC Opava had been tested positive on Thursday the Czech Football League Association reacted immediately. In the Friday's decision, the League Board ended the 2019/20 season on July 29, due to force majeure circumstances, which make it impossible to complete the current season by August 2, 2020. "Throughout the coronavirus crisis, we did our best to complete the competitions on the pitch. Unfortunately, after the quarantine has been ordered for the Opava club, it is no longer possible to finish the current season so that we can meet the deadline, which the clubs themselves set for proper resumption," commented Dušan Svoboda, chairman of the League Board.
While the table of the FORTUNA:NÁRODNÍ LIGA (2nd division) was approved as final in its form after 30 league rounds, in the highest competition, the 2019/20 season will be closed without ranking, which, however, will not affect two major decisions approved by the League Board on Friday. In accordance with the League regulations, the title of Champion of the Czech Republic was awarded to the SK Slavia Praha, which took over the trophy more than two weeks ago. According to the regulations the ranking of 1st to 6th place was determined only for the purposes of selecting clubs for UEFA international club competitions and in the UCC the Czech Republic will be represented by these five clubs:
- SK Slavia Prague
- FC Viktoria Plzen
- AC Sparta Prague
- FK Jablonec
- FC Slovan Liberec
"According to the rules, there was no other choice and although we only had to play six more matches, we cannot recognize the final ranking in FORTUNA:LIGA. However, we were prepared for this situation in advance and we can determine the most fundamental parameters. The cup participants are chosen according to the final ranking of the title group," said Dušan Svoboda.
In accordance with General Assembly last meeting's resolution the League Board also decided that no team will be relegated from the highest competition at the end of the current season without determining the order. FK Pardubice became the promotion from FORTUNA:NÁRODNÍ LIGA and the League Board decided in accordance with the regulations to add the number of participants in the highest league to an even number of eighteen teams. FC Zbrojovka Brno thus became another promoted club. "As we announced after the General Assembly last Friday, next season we will play with the number of eighteen teams in FORTUNA:LIGA and fourteen teams in the second highest competition. We expect the next season to take place without the play-off or any extra macthes. This is a one-time situation for one season and we want to return to the usual model of sixteen participants in both leagues," added Dušan Svoboda to Friday's decision of the LFA League Board.
