Belgium Pro League To Be Abandoned, Club Brugge To Be Declared Champions
The Belgium Pro Jupiler League is set to become the first European top flight to be abandoned amid the Coronavirus pandemic.
Club Brugge, who are top of the league, 15 points ahead of second placed Gent, will be declared champions with one game of the regular season remaining.
The Belgian league usually go into post-season playoffs involving the top six clubs to determine the champions and European places but the Covid-19 pandemic has ensured that the competition cannot continue.
A conference call involving the League’s Board of Directors yesterday concluded that the top flight cannot resume in the current circumstances and the final league standings will be declared final.
The decision will be ratified at meeting of the 24 clubs in the top two divisions on April 15.
"The Board of Directors took note of the recommendations of Dr. Van Ranst and the government that it is highly unlikely that games with the public will be played before June 30. The current situation also makes it very unclear whether and when a resumption of collective training courses can be foreseen at all," the league said in a statement.
"Even if games behind closed doors could theoretically be possible, the additional pressure they place on health and order services should be avoided. Moreover, decisions by local authorities threaten to make a joint course of match days impossible.
"The Board of Directors has unanimously decided that it is not desirable to continue the competition after June 30. Given the above elements, the Board of Directors has formulated a unanimous advice to the General Meeting not to resume the competitions of the season '19 -'20 and to accept the current state of the Jupiler Pro League as final classification [subject to the decisions of the licensing committee]."
Belgium has recorded over 15,000 Coronavirus cases with 1,011 deaths.
