V.League 2020 has a play-off round?

At the VFF Executive Committee Meeting, which took place this morning (May 13), delegates agreed with the plan to organize professional football tournaments for the 2020 season proposed by VPF. Thus, the competition method of the National Cup remains the same, but the V.League and the National First Division will change in the direction of reducing the number of matches (V.League will reduce 48 matches, the First Division will reduce 36 matches).

In the V.League arena, instead of competing like in recent seasons, V.League 2020 will only compete in the first leg, then select the top 8 teams and the remaining 6 teams to compete in the play-off round.

The 8 teams ranked above will compete in a round-robin to determine the champion (28 matches), and the 6 teams ranked below will also compete in a round-robin to determine the relegated team (15 matches).

SLNA football team participating in the 2020 season. Photo: Archive

According to the arrangement of the Organizing Committee, Group A hosted by Cao Lanh Stadium includes the hosts Dong Thap, Khanh Hoa and Lam Dong. Meanwhile, Group B hosted by Long Xuyen Stadium includes the hosts An Giang, SLNA and Ho Chi Minh City Police. At the end of the group stage, the order of the teams is as follows: The first and second places in Group A are Dong Thap and Lam Dong, and the two leading positions of Group B are Ho Chi Minh City Police and SLNA.

The final match was a competition between the top two teams of the two groups, Dong Thap and Ho Chi Minh City Police (Dong Thap won 3-1), the Bronze Medal match was a duel between the second-placed teams, SLNA and Lam Dong (SLNA won on penalties). This was the second time the Nghe An team won the Bronze Medal at the National Championship (the first time was in the 1992 season).

V.League 2020 is expected to return from June 5 and end on October 25.

The term Play off in football is simply understood as a match to compete for a ticket to the next round of a tournament. In English, it can be roughly understood as "play or be eliminated", meaning that the winning team in a play off match will be the team that will continue, which means winning a ticket to the next round of the tournament, on the contrary, the losing team will be the team that will be eliminated and have to go home empty-handed. It is worth noting that: the play off series will never have the concept of "inconclusive victory or defeat" but only "winner or loser".

Because of the decisive nature of this match, the play-off series has never lacked intensity, high competitiveness and especially there is always a lot of blood in every ball phase on the field. This is also the reason for the audience who love the king sport to have the opportunity to witness the top and attractive matches..