WTF: to win promotion... this club has to lose 🤯 | OneFootball

It’s the most unbelievable scenario we’ve ever seen.

We head to the Dutch second division, where, to have a chance of promotion, Den Bosch must lose its next match.

This scenario is due to a specific rule in the Netherlands’ second division. Hang on, it’s about to get a little technical.

Put simply, the league has two separate standings running in parallel. A standard table over 38 matchdays, and another one split into four periods, as shown below.

And this is where all the subtlety comes in. While the top two teams in the overall standings are automatically promoted to the Eredivisie, promotion playoff spots are handed out to the teams that win each period.

But these spots can only be won once per team. If a team already qualified for the playoffs wins a period, then its spot is awarded to the runner-up in that period’s standings, provided they have not already qualified for the playoffs.

A system of unmatched complexity, which has now created a completely absurd situation.

Currently ninth in the league, Den Bosch can qualify for the playoffs through the overall standings. But with one matchday left in the season, the club could see that qualifying spot slip away because of the fourth-period standings.

Right now, the final-period standings are led by Willem II, followed by ADO Den Haag, and then... Vitesse Arnhem. If those positions remain unchanged, Den Bosch will go to the playoffs, but if Vitesse grabs first or second place, the final qualifying spot will go to them, knocking Den Bosch out.

So why does Den Bosch need to lose to qualify for the playoffs? Well, Den Bosch faces ADO Den Haag on the final matchday. That club is already guaranteed to finish top of the overall standings and therefore to be promoted to the Eredivisie. On top of that, Willem II is also guaranteed a place in the playoffs.

A win for Den Haag combined with a win for Willem II would therefore prevent Vitesse from reaching the top two in the final-period standings... and thus from claiming the last spot, sending Den Bosch into the playoffs via the overall standings.

Den Bosch therefore has every reason to deliberately lose to ADO Den Haag in order to stop Vitesse from climbing the fourth-period standings.

An absolutely surreal situation that makes us miss the good old traditional league tables. Now all that remains is to see what Den Bosch will do...

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇫🇷 here.

📸 Dean Mouhtaropoulos - 2020 Getty Images