THE Philippines Football League (PFL) will have a compressed schedule if it is given the green light by the government to hold its 2020 season.
PFL commissioner Coco Torre said that league is waiting for the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) to allow competitions to be held following a recent resolution that practices in professional basketball and football are allowed to be resumed.
“We have created situational calendars where we adjust from time to time based on the current developments,” said Torre. “In fact, we already adjusted our nature of competition. Before originally, the plan is for a double round-robin. Now, it’s a single round-robin just to fit in the calendar year.”
The PFL has required all clubs to undergo COVID-19 testing before being allowed to train for the season – if there will be one.
The PFL commissioner said the league has also consulted their counterparts in other leagues on how they were able to resume their competitions. Among the countries that were able to hold their league are Germany, Spain, and England.
“We have been observing how the leagues have resumed and how they are operating in their match organization. In fact, we are in touch with some of the competition heads of certain countries. One in Europe and some in Southeast Asia. The dynamics will always shift because they are unprecedented times. We always develop our protocols,” he said.
Torre said shortening the PFL season will not affect the clubs’ qualification procedure in continental tournaments.
“The AFC entry manual prescribes that each club has to have 27 matches per year to be able to qualify for the AFC Cup and the AFC Champions League. We had an e-meeting with the AFC and they said that these are unprecedented times. Loosening up of the regulations can be done,” said Torre.
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