2019-20 Eredivisie season officially canceled due to COVID-19

When Hakim Ziyech agreed to join Chelsea in February, he was hoping to do so with two more trophies in the bag. But Ajax crashed out of the Europa League not long after, and now won’t even be able to defend their domestic league title as the 2019-20 Eredivisie season has been officially canceled. The KNVB Cup has been canceled as well.

The decision was ratified today after the Dutch Prime Minister’s decision earlier this week to extend restrictions on public gatherings and events until September 1 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The cancelation means that no title will be awarded for 2019-20, though European places will be awarded for next season based on the current (and now final) standings. Meanwhile, the issue of promotion/relegation was put to a non-binding vote, but that resulted in an impasse anyway (16 for, 9 against, 9 abstaining of the 34 professional clubs of the top two divisions). So the FA made the decision to NOT hold promotion or relegation, which means that the divisions will stay as they were for next season as well.

This is quite the contrast to what’s going on just over the border in Germany, where the league’s gearing up to restart play in a couple weeks (pending government approval).

For other leagues, including the Premier League, we now have two potential models to follow and keep an eye on. Which way will we go? Will we push for a restart like Germany, Spain, and probably many others? Or will we push the reset button and go for a do-over next season? (Sorry Liverpool LOL.)