The solutions of the FFF to end the amateur football season

Amateur football has been at a standstill for many weeks. The FFF has worked on several solutions to end the amateur football season. We tell you everything.

To avoid a scenario like that of last season, the FFF is working to find the best solutions to end the amateur football championships. The Executive Committee thus chose several solutions applicable by the Leagues and Districts. You can find below all the solutions put in place by the FFF for the end of the amateur football championships.

Since the announcement by the President of the Republic, on October 28, 2020, of a new containment measure for the French population in order to fight against the COVID-19 epidemic, the competitions of the Leagues and Districts have been suspended, as this must have already been the case last March because of the first confinement.

The Executive Committee would however like to point out that the current context is different from that of the 2019/2020 season. Indeed, last April, it was not possible to resume the championships and it was then necessary to determine whether, in view of the number of games played, it was possible or not to stop the rankings and pronounce the climbs / descents. Today, it is planned, when the health situation allows it, to resume competition but without knowing in advance to what stage the championships can be carried out, which requires anticipating now the how the issue of ascents / descents will be handled at the end of the 2020/2021 season.

With this in mind, a working group, set up by the Executive Board of the Amateur Football League on November 6, 2020 and composed of representatives of the Leagues and Districts, has reflected in recent weeks on the different scenarios for resuming the competitions of the Leagues. and Districts. Numerous videoconference meetings were organized to discuss the subject and reach a consensus. On the occasion of its final meeting of December 1, 2020, this working group adopted a certain number of main principles and retained two solutions for the resumption of the competitions of the Leagues and Districts.

These principles and solutions were examined by the Executive Board of the Amateur Football League on December 4, 2020 and then presented to the General Assembly of the Amateur Football League on December 11, 2020, it being specified that it goes without saying that these principles and solutions reflect the current reality and that their implementation depends on the evolution of the health situation.

Consequently, the Executive Committee takes note of the working group’s proposals and specifies that it will therefore be up to each League and each District (in consultation with its League) to take stock of the current situation in its various championships in the taking into account the number of matches remaining to be played and then pronouncing a decision aiming to determine, for each of its championships, the solution which will apply, and this in accordance with the principles set out below.

The principles that the Leagues and Districts agree to adopt, for all their competitions, are to date as follows:

1. – Each body must make every effort to try to finish at least the first leg in all of its championships;

2. – Cancellation of all regional and departmental cups, in order to recover dates for the championship matches;

3. – On the day of the resumption of the championships, resume from the day that should have been played at the time of the stoppage, and not on the day corresponding to the date of the resumption;

4. – In the event of impractical ground, in order to avoid postponing the match, the home club must by any means find a fallback ground and failing this the match will be reversed;

5. – No championship match for the 2020/2021 season can be played after June 30, 2021, the last day of the current season;

6. – Strict application of the number of accessions and relegations planned at the start of the season.

The solutions adopted by the Leagues and Districts for the resumption of their championships are as follows:

➢ Solution A : bring the championship to its end or as far as possible

This solution does not involve modifying the sporting formula of the competition, since the return phase is maintained.

Two hypotheses may then arise when this solution has been implemented:

1. – The championship has come to an end no later than June 30, 2021: ascents / descents are done on the basis of a complete classification, as in a normal season;

2. – The championship has not come to an end by 30 June 2021 at the latest: the climbs / descents are made on the basis of the classification on the day of the final end of the championship, with application of the rule of the quotient if all teams in the group have not played the same number of matches, that is to say that the position in the standings of each team will in this case be determined by the quotient resulting from the ratio between its number of points and its number of matches (quotient rounded to the second decimal place at most).

➢ Solution B : stop at the end of the go phase then organize a mini-championship

This solution will involve modifying the sporting formula of the competition since the return phase will be canceled.

This new sporting formula, aimed at reducing the number of matches to be played, is organized under the following conditions:

1. – The first leg must have been fully contested in each group (all the teams in the group have therefore met once);

2. – As soon as the entire first leg has been played, a second phase is carried out, including all the teams in the group (including the teams not eligible for accession), it being specified that all the points acquired by each team during the first leg are kept for the second phase:

• “Pool of accession” mini-championship: the teams in the first part of the ranking at the end of the first leg all compete once, in order to generate a ranking combining the first leg and the mini-championship, on the basis of from which the accessions in the upper division will be made,

• Mini “maintenance pool” championship: the teams in the second part of the ranking at the end of the first leg all compete once, in order to generate a ranking combining the first leg and the mini-championship, on the basis of which will make the relegations to the lower division.

1. – If ever the second phase cannot be completed: the climbs / descents are made on the basis of the classification existing on the day of the end of the mini-championship (which therefore includes the matches of the first leg and the matches having been played as part of the mini-championship), with application of the quotient rule set out above if all the teams have not played the same number of matches;

2. – In odd groups, the maintenance hen will include one more team than the accession hen,

3. – A general forfeit team at the end of the first leg will be placed numerically in the maintenance pool.

The Executive Committee would like to point out that in a championship with several groups, it is recommended to apply an identical solution for all the groups in the championship, for the sake of sporting equity between the different clubs of the championship.

Lastly, the Executive Committee indicates that it will decide at a forthcoming meeting on the fate of national competitions, and in particular, since this is of direct interest to the Leagues, on the question of the stages of accession to a national championship (Championship France Women’s Division 2, French Futsal Championship Division 2 and National Women’s Championship U19).

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