Well that was a surprise. It isn't official yet, but the Pro League has advised to stop the current season. This advice is more or less common sense but still feels strange.

One round still had to be played during the regular compitition. 5 teams were already guaranteed a place in the POI, while 3 teams had to battle out which team would take the 6th spot!
At the bottom 2 teams were trying to avoid relegation during the last regular game of the season!

So, I think that this is a brave decision. Hopefully a lot of other football competitions will follow this example. This allows the teams the let the players go back to their own country. Being close to family during these tough times could be a blessing.

But what about the relegation and European tickets! And most of all how big will the financial impact be!

Let's start with the financial impact. Still 20M euro had to be paid for the broadcasting rights for this season. Due to the fact that the Pro League did sell the right for the upcming 5 seasons to another partner, the current right holder could play it tough! Can't blame them. For the big 5 this would mean a loss of income of arround 5M euro each. This is a lot for some teams.

Champion?

It is also advised to crown Club Brugge as the Champion of the season. While they had a big advantage over the rest of the field, it still is strange to crown a champion with 10 more games to go. 10 more games against the other teams from the top 6. I do have to admit that they probably will have won the championship but one never will know.

Also what about the European tickets? Lot's of movement was possible there. 4 remaining tickets now have to be distributed but how. And there are some important ones, like direct qualification for the groups of the Europa League.

And what about the relegation? No matter what they will decide, besides letting nobody relegate, law suits will come. If they decided that one of the teams will relegate, they will fight it. If none of the teams will relegate the champions of the second division will complain!

Like I wrote above, I do find it a brave decision taken with common sense! And I am very curious how things will evolve in the comming weeks!

Cheers,

Peter