Yaounde (National Times)-The second phase of the 2019 football season in Cameroon, focused on playoffs, have been launched with a number of matches reduced per team from 10 to 5 following a board meeting of the league on May 1 in Yaounde.
At the end of the meeting, it was revealed that the playoffs will unfold with teams playing just one leg against their five opponents. This means that there will be no home and away matches as it had initially been previewed.
Still in respect with the resolution, it was stated that part of the playoffs will be played in Yaounde, while Limbe will host a faction of the matches.
The third point on the document resulting from the Wednesday, May 1 meeting reveals that, this second phase of the season, will kick off on May 12th.
Another issue which brought about confusion, though it had earlier been elucidated was the rule used to classify teams with the same number of points.
The first phase of the season ended with some clubs at the top as well as the bottom of the rankings having the same number of points. This made it difficult to tell which side was actually relegated or promoted.
The rule used to separate the teams requested that, in case three teams are tied with the same number of points, what will be checked are the results of the games played against each other. After evaluating matches involving the teams tied, the club with the highest number of points is placed ahead and the rest of the teams follow according to their points as well.
Yong Sports Academy (YOSA), one of the sides representing the English speaking Regions of the country, was faced with this situation.
There was confusion if they were 4th or 3rd of Group B. The dilemma surfaced as they had the same number of points (21 points) with UMS of Loum and Eding FC. When matches pitting the three teams against each other both home and away were checked, it was discovered that YOSA was the club that had qualified to take part in the playoffs out of the three sides, contrary to the calculations of many who rather looked at the goal difference.
It is expected that three teams will drop from the first division, while 5 teams get promoted to the League to put the number of teams at 20. Only one team will be relegated to the Regional League from the second division, with the Cameroon Professional Football League (LFPC), hoping to have 16 clubs in the league 2 next season and 20 in the League One.
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