"Small leagues"

[eye]

New league format in Malta. It seems the organisers are smoking something very good there.

https://www.maltafootball.com/2024/04/2 ... explained/

[amenina]

New league format in Malta. It seems the organisers are smoking something very good there.

https://www.maltafootball.com/2024/04/2 ... explained/

So they are the first European league to adopt the South American Aperura (Opening Round) and Clausura (Closing Round) format. It is certainly "interesting", and I have certainly seen "worse" formats that make even less sense.

There are still quite a few scenarios that they have not mentioned. What if the same team finish second in both tournaments? I suppose this would be similar to Scenario 3, so the final four would be the champions of the Opening Round, the champions of the Closing Round, the runners-up of both Opening Round and Closing Round, and the best third-placed team according to the aggregate table.

And what if one of the champions place third in the other tournament? I guess since there is only one eligible third-placed team, that team would automatically be included.

But what if both champions place third in the other tournament? So the Opening Round finish with A, B, C in the top three in that order, while the Closing Round finish with C, B, A in the top three in that order. Would there be only three teams in the "final four", or will they add a fourth team from one of the fourth-placed team of either tournament?

[krdel]

Dinamo M-Dinamo B 1:0
Torpedo BelAZ-Slavia 3:0
Smorgon-BATE 0:0
Vitebsk-Isloč 0:1
Gomel-Arsenal 5:0
Minsk-Neman 0:2
Naftan-Sluck 1:4
Dnepr-Šahter 2:3

The first half of the season is finished. There were no surprises this round. Dinamo Minsk won against Dinamo Brest with an early goal, Torpedo BelAZ and Neman also won, so nothing changed. Vitebsk missed a great opportunity to jump to fourth, while Šahter won their third match in a row. If only they have played like this from the beginning...

[eye]

New league format in Malta. It seems the organisers are smoking something very good there.

https://www.maltafootball.com/2024/04/2 ... explained/

So they are the first European league to adopt the South American Aperura (Opening Round) and Clausura (Closing Round) format. It is certainly "interesting", and I have certainly seen "worse" formats that make even less sense.

There are still quite a few scenarios that they have not mentioned. What if the same team finish second in both tournaments? I suppose this would be similar to Scenario 3, so the final four would be the champions of the Opening Round, the champions of the Closing Round, the runners-up of both Opening Round and Closing Round, and the best third-placed team according to the aggregate table.

And what if one of the champions place third in the other tournament? I guess since there is only one eligible third-placed team, that team would automatically be included.

But what if both champions place third in the other tournament? So the Opening Round finish with A, B, C in the top three in that order, while the Closing Round finish with C, B, A in the top three in that order. Would there be only three teams in the "final four", or will they add a fourth team from one of the fourth-placed team of either tournament?

You missed the most interesting scenario. A club to qualify to final four at one round and to qualify at relegation playoffs at the other round so it is possible the club that will participate at CL to be relegated also I have seen bad formats but I don't remember a worse one than this

[amenina]

New league format in Malta. It seems the organisers are smoking something very good there.

https://www.maltafootball.com/2024/04/2 ... explained/

So they are the first European league to adopt the South American Aperura (Opening Round) and Clausura (Closing Round) format. It is certainly "interesting", and I have certainly seen "worse" formats that make even less sense.

There are still quite a few scenarios that they have not mentioned. What if the same team finish second in both tournaments? I suppose this would be similar to Scenario 3, so the final four would be the champions of the Opening Round, the champions of the Closing Round, the runners-up of both Opening Round and Closing Round, and the best third-placed team according to the aggregate table.

And what if one of the champions place third in the other tournament? I guess since there is only one eligible third-placed team, that team would automatically be included.

But what if both champions place third in the other tournament? So the Opening Round finish with A, B, C in the top three in that order, while the Closing Round finish with C, B, A in the top three in that order. Would there be only three teams in the "final four", or will they add a fourth team from one of the fourth-placed team of either tournament?

You missed the most interesting scenario. A club to qualify to final four at one round and to qualify at relegation playoffs at the other round so it is possible the club that will participate at CL to be relegated also I have seen bad formats but I don't remember a worse one than this

For other leagues which use similar formats of split season, there are usually rules to prevent this, which is basically a team cannot be possibly playing for both the championship and relegation at the same time, otherwise you may have the really awkward case of a team simultaneously winning the league title and being relegated in the same season! It should specify that a team that qualify both the championship (or European play-offs) and the relegation play-offs can only play in one of them. So either the team only plays the championship (or European play-offs) and are spared from the relegation play-offs or only plays in the relegation play-offs and disqualified from the championship (or European play-offs).

This is one league where you really have to read the regulations to understand all possible scenarios.

[Rstick]

League of Ireland Premier Division:


Results:
Dundalk FC 4 - 2 Drogheda
Bohemians 0 - 2 Sligo Rvs
Galway Utd 1 - 0 Waterford


Table:
Ranking : Played: Points
Shelbourne. - 24 - 47
Derry City . - 25 - 44
Waterford . - 24 - 37
Shamrock R - 23 - 34
Galway Utd - 23 - 34
Sligo Rovers- 24 - 34
St Pat. Ath. - 25 - 28
Bohemians. - 22 - 26
Dundalk FC - 24 - 22
Drogheda U - 24 - 17

[Rstick]

League of Ireland Premier Division:


Results:
Drogheda 2 - 0 Waterford
Sligo Rvs 2 - 0 Galway Utd
Bohemians 1 - 1 Dundalk FC

Table:
Ranking : Played: Points
Shelbourne. - 24 - 47
Derry City . - 25 - 44
Waterford . - 25 - 37
Sligo Rovers- 25 - 37
Shamrock R - 23 - 34
Galway Utd - 24 - 34
St Pat. Ath. - 25 - 28
Bohemians. - 23 - 27
Dundalk FC - 25 - 23
Drogheda U - 25 - 20

[krdel]

Vitebsk-Šahter 2:1
BATE-Minsk 0:1
Gomel-Sluck 1:2
Dnepr-Slavia 1:2
Dinamo B-Isloč 3:2
Torpedo BelAZ-Arsenal 1:1

The league is back after the break. Vitebsk achieved a very important win to stay with the best, while Šahter has now a 12 points deficit to make up. Minsk sprang a surprise of the round winning away at BATE and Torpedo BelAZ only drew against Arsenal. Two most important matches were postponed.

[Rstick]

League of Ireland Premier Division:

Results:
Drogheda U 2 - 2 Bohemians
Dundalk FC 0 - 2 Galway Utd
Waterford. 1 - 2 Shamrock R
St Pat. Ath 3 - 2 Sligo Rvs
Shelbourne 0 - 0 Derry City

Table:
Ranking : Played: Points
Shelbourne. - 25 - 48
Derry City . - 26 - 45
Shamrock R - 24 - 37
Waterford . - 26 - 37
Galway Utd - 25 - 37
Sligo Rovers- 26 - 37
St Pat. Ath. - 26 - 31
Bohemians. - 24 - 28
Dundalk FC - 26 - 23
Drogheda U - 26 - 21

Back Games to be rescheduled:
Shamrock R vs Bohemians
Galway Utd vs Shamrock R
Bohemians vs Shelbourne

[seso]

Cymru Premier 2024-25 has begun! TNS are huge favourites for the title once again!

A great away win by Penybont FC against newly-promoted Briton Ferry Llansawel (0-2)!

[krdel]

Slavia-Vitebsk 1:2
BATE-Naftan 1:1
Smorgon-Dinamo B 0:2
Šahter-Isloč 0:1
Sluck-Torpedo BelAZ 1:0
Arsenal-Dnepr 3:1
Neman-Gomel 1:1

In the match of the round Neman dissapointed once again. Gomel took the early lead out out of nothing and then the home tried everything, but just could not score more than once. Vitebsk confirmed their great form in Mozir, while Torpedo BelAZ surprisingly lost in Sluck. Šahter and BATE both continue with a poor season.

[Rstick]

League of Ireland Premier Division:
League has reached the end of 3rd series of games. One full round (9 games) plus a handful of back matches remaining.

Results:
Sligo Rvs 2 - 1 Shelbourne
Derry City 1 - 1 Dundalk
Bohemians 2 - 3 Waterford
Galway Utd 1 - 1 St Pat. Ath
Shamrock R 1 - 1 Drogheda U

Table:
Ranking : Played: Points
Shelbourne. - 26 - 48
Derry City . - 27 - 46
Waterford . - 27 - 40
Sligo Rovers- 27 - 40
Shamrock R - 25 - 38
Galway Utd - 26 - 38
St Pat. Ath. - 27 - 32
Bohemians. - 25 - 28
Dundalk FC - 27 - 24
Drogheda U - 27 - 22

Back Games to be played:
Shamrock R vs Bohemians (TBA)
Galway Utd vs Shamrock R (TBA)
Bohemians vs Shelbourne (Sept 6th)

[seso]

Derry City winning the League of Ireland Premier Division is like TNS winning Cymru Premier!

[seso]

Yesterday we had MD2 of Cymru Premier (and the first match of TNS):
Big away win for TNS (1-4) against Flint Town United with a hat-trick by Sion Bradley (who was transferred to TNS from Caernarfon Town in July 2024)! Also, Aberystwyth Town 1-1 Connah's Quay and Penybont 0-0 Newtown.
Lastly, Caernarfon Town 1-2 Haverfordwest County and the Bluebirds are on top with two away wins in two matches. Their best ever finish has been third in 2003–04 Cymru Premier.

[krdel]

Dinamo B-Šahter 3:0
Vitebsk-Arsenal 0:0
Isloč-Slavia 0:0
Dnepr-Sluck 2:3
Torpedo BelAZ-Neman 1:4
SMorgon-Minsk 1:1
Gomel-BATE 2:0

Neman crushed Torpedo BelAZ away and clearly positioned itself as a main rival for the top place. Šahter and BATE both lost again. This was already third round in which the main favourite Dinamo Minsk did not play and it will be the same also next week.