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Dos Santos: PSL can't scrap the season like the Eredivisie did

Former Kaizer Chiefs midfielder Sergio Dos Santos doesn't believe it would work to follow the Dutch Eredivisie's example and scrap the Absa Premiership season.

The Eredivisie has announced that the 2019/20 season has been made null and void due to the coronavirus pandemic halting its progress.

Dos Santos reckons it would be a bad decision for the PSL to follow suit because of the financial implications for South African clubs who depend on prize money.

"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.

"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."

He added: "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."

- TEAMtalk media

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