Adedapo Adesanya
By Adedapo Adesanya
The 2019/2020 season of the Netherlands top flight football league, the Eredivisie, has been scrapped due to disruption caused by the coronavirus crisis.
The announcement to scrap the season was reached by the Dutch Football Association, the KNVB, after the pronouncement by the Dutch prime minister, Mr Mark Rutte, that professional footballing activities are banned in the country till September 2020 in the face of the current health emergency.
Clubs were afforded a vote to decide the outcome of the campaign, with 16 choosing to enable promotion and relegation for the Eredivisie.
However, nine clubs voted against their competitors being allowed to move into different leagues, with nine more abstaining from the vote entirely and believing that the Dutch FA should decide.
The KNVB then ultimately opted to ensure that clubs will remain in their current divisions for when football resumes in the country.
Both Ajax and AZ Alkmaar were level on points at the top of the Eredivisie before the suspension of the league in early March and following the reached on Friday none of them will be crowned champions.
Meanwhile, Feyenoord will head to the Europa League group stage as they sat third while PSV and Willem II will enter the Europa League in the third and second round of qualifiers, respectively.
This means the 18-team league. which had ADO Den Haag and RKC Waalwijk set for relegation if the season had wrapped, will now remain.
The decision also affects the promotion and relegation of the bottom teams as first division side, Cambuur, who were 11 points clear and set to enter top flight football for the 2020/2021 season, will not be coming anymore.
Also, De Graafschap will remain in the second division as it would have followed Cambuur in second place for promotion to the Eredivisie.
The decision to finalise the table was made after UEFA asked the Dutch federation to maintain the current standings to decide which teams are awarded spots in European competition.
