The Super League playoff and playout format
With just three matchdays left in the Super League regular season, AGONAsport’s Sarantos Kaperonis lists out everything you need to know about the upcoming Super League playoffs and playouts, which will decide the league champion, European places, and relegation.
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For the first time in the Greek top flight’s history, the Super League champion will be decided via a playoff format at the end of the regular season. The Super League changed the league’s format this past summer as the number of teams decreased from 16 to 14 teams.
As a result, the Super League adapted a playoff, playout format at the end of the regular season. With just three games left in the regular season, AGONAsport’s Sarantos Kaperonis lists out everything you need to know about the upcoming playoffs and playouts, which will decide the Super League champion, UEFA Champions League and Europa League positions, and relegation.
The Regular Season
The Super League will be carried out in two phases, the regular season (Phase A) and the playoffs/playouts (Phase B).
The regular season will consist of two rounds of 13 matchdays (totaling 26 matchdays), with each team in the league playing the others in home and away fixtures.
At the end of the regular season, the teams that finish in the top-six (1st-6th) will compete in the playoffs while teams that finish in the bottom eight (7th-14th) will compete in the playouts.
All points earned in the regular season will carry over to the playoffs and the playouts.
The Playoffs
The playoffs will consist of ten matchdays, two rounds of five matchdays, where each team will play the others in home and away fixtures. The schedule will be determined via a draw.
The standings at the end of the playoffs (all points from the regular season carry over to the playoffs) will be the final Super League standings for the 2019/20 season.
Thus, the team with the most points at the end of the playoffs will be crowned Super League champions.
Teams ranked second, third, and fourth will qualify for the UEFA Champions League or Europa League. The Super League’s fifth-placed team will also qualify for the Europa League if the winner of the Greek Cup has already secured a place in Europe via their finish in the Super League.
The Playouts
The playouts will consist of seven matchdays, where each team will play the others once (not home and away). The schedule will be determined via a draw.
Teams that finished 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th in the regular season will play four matches at home and three matches away while the rest of the teams, those that finished 11th-14th in the regular season, will play three matches at home and four matches on the road.
The teams that finish 7th-12th at the end of the playouts will ensure their place in next season’s Super League.
The team that finishes in 13th at the end of the playouts will compete in a two-legged promotion/relegation playoff with the runner-up from the Super League 2. The winner of the two-legged playoff will compete in the 2020/21 Super League while the losing side will compete in the 2020/21 Super League 2.
The last-placed team at the end of the playouts will be relegated to the Super League 2, while the Super League 2 champion will be promoted to the Super League for the 2020/21 season.
Tie-breaker criteria in the playoffs/playouts
If two clubs are tied in the playoff or playout standings, the following criteria will be used to rank the teams.
1. Head-to-head results. If two teams are tied, head-to-head results will be the first criteria used to rank the teams. The head-to-head results will include matches played in the regular season AND the playoffs between the two teams in question. For example, if Team A and Team B are tied in the playoff standings, and Team A defeated Team B twice in the regular season and Team B defeated and drew Team A in the playoffs, Team A would have a higher ranking. Team A accumulated seven points in their matches against Team B, while Team B accumulated four points in their matches against Team B.
2. Head-to-head goal differential. If head-to-head results do not separate the clubs, head-to-head goal differential will be used to rank the teams. The head-to-head goal differential will include matches played in the regular season AND the playoffs between the two teams in question, similar to criteria one above.
3. Regular season ranking. If criteria one and two do not separate the clubs, then the clubs’ regular-season ranking will be the third and final criteria used in the tie-break. The team with the higher ranking at the end of the regular season will finish ahead in the final Super League standings.
