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da leao： The Belgian League or the (Jupiler Pro League) saw a transformation in the 2009-2010 that introduced a play-off system at the end of the season to make it more competitive and entertaining. The league was cut from 18 teams, to 16 with teams playing a regular season of home and away games against each other home and away from July to March.
From March to May would see a Play-Off system in place throughout the league table. Play-Off 1 includes the teams that finished 1st to 6th and play each other twice. The points the top six teams won during the season are cut in half and the points picked up during the Play-Off 1 games determine who are crowned the Champions.
Play-Off 2 involves teams who finished 7th to 14th into two groups, A (7th, 9th, 12the and 14th) and B (8th, 10th, 11th and 13th). In each group, the teams play each other twice with the winners of both groups playing each other at the end to determine the winner of Play-Off 2. The winners of this 2nd Play-Off then play the team who finished 4th or 5th in Play-Off 1 in a two legged tie to determine who qualifies for the last European place (Europa League).
Not finished yet, the 3rd play-off system involves the teams who finished in the bottom two of the inaugural season in a relegation decider over 5 games between the two teams, with the team in 16th starting on zero points and the team in 15th starting with three. The loser of this tie is relegated, whilst the winner of this 3rd Play-Off then enters the final round of the Belgian Second Division play-off where the winner of the tie plays in the top division for the following season.
Confused? Most probably, but once you get your head around it, it does actually make for a thrilling way to run a league system. Could this work in the English Premier League however?
Of course, the EPL consists of 20 teams so a similar system would have to be adjusted slightly. In defence of this system working, the EPL table is usually split with the famous “top 4” now becoming a top six with Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspurs ambitions. It would certainly be thrilling to see the current top six enter a mini-league come the end of the season to determine who are crowned the EPL Champions.
However I am rather critical of the play-off 2 system from the Belgium league. In theory, teams finishing mid-table or even lower down the table, could actually end up qualifying for Europe if they are to have a late run of form. They would of course, had to have won their play-off group, then beat the winners of the other group and then also beat the team from the top six in order to qualify, which would be highly unlikely given their lower league finish. If they were to achieve this feat, then perhaps it would be a worthy achievement.
A relegation play-off involving teams from the bottom of the EPL and the teams from the Championship, could also be an interesting prospect too. Perhaps the bottom team from the EPL will automatically be relegated and the Champions of the Championship are promoted, however the remaining teams in each league near the bottom/top will play each other in a mini league to determine who plays in the top division.
At the time of writing this, the final games of the EPL are underway and making for great entertainment, so perhaps there is nothing wrong with our English Premier League and this Belgian League system should not even be considered. But, you also have to admire how other nations run their top leagues differently to our own.
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