After the Eredivisie in the Netherlands announced that the 2019/20 season has been scrapped due to the coronavirus pandemic, proclaiming it null and void, former Kaizer Chiefs midfielder Sergio Dos Santos believes the Premier Soccer League (PSL) could follow a different approach.
As things stand, Amakhosi currently are at the summit of the log, four points ahead of Mamelodi Sundowns having played a game more, and Dos Santos says South Africa is different than European leagues because many PSL clubs rely on the prize money to ensure the operations are running smoothly.
On the other hand, the former Ajax Cape Town coach points to the relegation battle and the fight for promotion in the National First Division (NFD), saying teams can possibly consider the legal route to contest against a decision to scrap the current season.
“It’s a very, very difficult one this issue. You see, what they’ve done in the Netherlands, of course, by doing that they’ve taken the responsibility away from making the decision. So, nobody gets relegated, nobody wins anything,” Dos Santos told Goal.
“They’ll start everything next year and in South Africa, it’s a little bit different because the money in South Africa is a very important thing for the clubs and now you can’t give the league to one team when the other team has got the chance as well.
“You can’t relegate a team when the other team has a chance to be relegated as well. You can’t promote a team from the second division if there’s another team that has a chance.
“So, my suggestion, if they are going to make a decision I think right throughout the entire world, the best thing to do is to say, look because of the virus, the league this year is closed and finished then we start again.
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“The second option is that in the new year, maybe the league should start a little bit earlier and they finish the last seven or eight matches and then start the new season.
“That is also a possibility because there’s a lot of money that has to be won and that will be lost. That’s correct [because there’s a lot of sponsors involved]. So, I think that idea could be a quite nice idea because it would be different from what I think is probably going to happen around the world.
“Maybe South Africa can do something slightly different, we can say right, the league finishes now because of the virus and next year, instead of starting the league for example in February, we will start in January and we finish the current season.
"Then the teams can start the new season [we will have a chance to decide on who is relegated] and give the other teams an opportunity to gain promotion and avoid legal battles – that’s also a nice idea.”
The former Amakhosi and Orlando Pirates coach insists that the move by the Dutch governing body has left a number of clubs unhappy, suggesting that the PSL can allow teams to play two or three matches per week to ensure the season is done and dusted.
“It’s better to do that than to do what they are doing overseas. Because overseas, imagine the teams in the second division who have got a chance to get promoted, they have to stay behind and who is going to give them the money now?” he continued.
“Is the league going to give them some money because of that decision? We have seven to nine matches left in South Africa and there’s still a lot to play for. You can do that in two months, you can finish it. If the teams play two games per week, you can finish it quickly.
“It also gives them a chance to start the new season with fit players and we will also sort out this thing about player contracts [some have signed pre-contracts].
“South Africa is very different from what is happening around the world. So, we’ve got to look at what is best for us here. Maybe here we can do something different.”
Meanwhile, PSL chairman Dr. Irvin Khoza is expected to make an announcement regarding the future of this season this week as the PSL Board of Governors are set to meet on Thursday.
On the other hand, the league's governing body will also look to ensure that the Nedbank Cup is completed with four teams yet to play in the semi-finals of the competition.
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