Super League considering format change for upcoming season
As the Super League season remains on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic, reports indicate that the Super League organization could consider a format change for the new season.
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The Super League season has been on hold since March 1st when the regular season concluded, due to the coronavirus pandemic that has tragically wreaked havoc across the world. With the virus showing no signs of slowing down, no one really knows when football, or the sporting world for that matter, will resume back to normal.
UEFA President, Aleksander Ceferin, recently mentioned in an interview that UEFA is considering three options for the restart of the season, in May, mid-June, or late June. However, he also stated that the season could be cut short if the coronavirus situation does not improve. On Monday, the Super League will hold a conference call to discuss the future of the 2019/20 campaign with reports stating that the league could start in mid-May.
According to the newspaper Live Sport, the coronavirus pandemic will result in an economic catastrophe for many of Greece’s clubs going forward and that professional football in Greece would not be able to support 40 clubs (14 in the Super League, 12 in the Super League 2, and 14 in the Football League).
For the “medium to small” football clubs in the Super League to be supported financially, the league will reconsider a centralized TV agreement (as opposed to each club securing their own TV contract as was the case this season) and centralized advertising in the stadiums.
A reformatting of the league will also be on the cards, with two options currently in play.
AE Larissa owner, Alexis Kougias recommended the first scenario. This includes increasing the number of teams in the Super League from 14 to 16. The 2019/20 Super League campaign will see no team relegated while the top two teams from the Super League 2, currently PAS Giannina and Apollon Smyrni, will be promoted to the first division. Currently, Panionios are bottom of the Super League table and destined for relegation while second-from-bottom Panetolikos, would play in a two-legged promotion/relegation playoff with the runner-up from the Super League 2 (Apollon Smyrni) - if the season ended today.
The Super League 2 would then also have 16 teams with no teams receiving relegation this season and the top two teams from this year’s Football League (Trikala, Ionikos) earning promotion to the second division.
Kougias then recommends that the Football League be held with 16 teams. This would increase the number of teams in the professional division to 48, sixteen in each league.
The second scenario sees the Super League 2 and Football League combine to form one league. No details on how this would be done have been released.
A lot will be cleared up in Monday’s conference call as lots of uncertainty remains in the Super League and the sporting world as a whole.
