The Eredivisie precedent: finish the league without a champion and there will be no promotions or decreases

The Netherlands have set a footballing precedent that the rest of European countries could copy in the face of the crisis caused by the Covid-19. Faced with the Government's announcement that public events were not going to be held until September, the Federation has decided to end the current season, not declare a champion team, run neither promotions nor declines and that the first two finishers dispute the next edition of the Champions League.

A controversial decision, because many teams asked for the return of the tournament at some point in the summer to be able to decide both the title and the salvation and the promotions from Second, but ultimately it will not be like that and no more football will be played in the Netherlands until next season.

Before the stop caused by the pandemic, AZ Alkmaar was being able to keep up with Ajax, the main favorite to win the title. Both had 56 points, a circumstance for which some asked for the tiebreaker by the league at some point in the summer, if the epidemic allowed it. Instead, both teams will contest the next edition of the Champions League.

The Eredivisie has justified this measure due to the "impossibility of disputing in time all that remains to be played" at a time when "public health comes first", and acknowledges that "all options were going to affect someone" and appeals to the "unity and solidarity" of the clubs.

The most controversial decision for clubs and fans has been that there are no promotions or decreases. A situation that completely favors the ADO Den Haag and RKC Waalwijk, teams that were last in the classification to seven and eleven points from salvation; and that it hurts Cambuur, who was the solo leader of Eredivisie 2 and had a four point advantage to get direct promotion. The three teams, which presumably were going to change category, will be in the same one more year.

A Spanish among those affected

The NAC Breda was going to dispute the promotion promotion to try to get that second place that gives access to the Eredivisie. The team captain is the Spaniard Nacho Monsalve, Atlético de Madrid's youth squad: "Any decision was going to be unfair to someone. The last of the Eredivisie was very lowered ...", he admits EL MUNDO, and admits that the solution may not be the same in other countries: "There is not the same situation in the face of the epidemic in all the countries of Europe," he admits, in a decision that has divided the clubs: 16 voted in favor of no promotions or decreases, nine against and nine blank.

The Dutch Federation has also recalled that UEFA does not have "a regulation for situations like this".

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