24.07.2020 18:32 h

Player's positive test ends Czech season and saves his club

The resumed Czech football league season was officially abandoned in Friday after a positive coronavirus case forced quarantine at a club battling relegation.

The Czech League had resumed on May 23 after being shut down for the first time in March.

It had nearly completed the final stage of the season when the 16-team league is divided into three parts.

Slavia Prague had already clinched the title and Plzen, Sparta Prague, Jablonec and Liberec locked up European places, but in the six-team relegation group three teams, Opava, Karvina and Pribram, were still battling to avoid the drop.

A statement from the Czech Football League said that it decided to end the season after an Opava player tested positive and scrap relegation.

"After the quarantine of the Opava club, it is no longer possible to finish the current season within the time limit," said the chairman of the league committee, Dusan Svoboda.

Without relegation and with Pardubice and Brno promoted, the league will be expanded to 18 clubs next season.