FC Copenhagen to contest relegation play-offs for first time after 1-2 Randers loss | OneFootball

FC Copenhagen, the reigning and record 16-time Danish champions, will play relegation play-offs for the first time after a 1-2 home defeat by Randers on Sunday left them seventh after the first phase. The match was decided by a 90+12 penalty.

L'Équipe notes that seventh in the 12-team league leads to the relegation group, a format similar to the Scottish and Belgian leagues.

Despite that slump, the capital club have performed respectably in the Champions League, taking eight points with draws against Leverkusen and Napoli, and a win at Villarreal.

It brings their first involvement in these play-offs and, in theory, a risk of a first relegation since the club’s 1992 creation from a merger of KB Copenhagen and Boldklubben 1903.

Even with players such as Birger Meling, Youssoufa Moukoko and Andreas Cornelius, Copenhagen still hold a cushion above the danger.

They are 10 points clear of second-bottom Silkeborg, the first relegation spot, with 10 play-off games to come, each team meeting twice.

It would take a cataclysm for them to drop into the second tier. The champions can still salvage a European route, as top of the relegation group brings a play-off for the Conference League. Even so, their season is already a failure.

Source: L'Équipe