Canberra's NPL competitions set to resume on 18 July
Canberra's NPL competitions are expected to kick off their 2020 seasons on 18 July, nearly four months after COVID-19 caused a temporary suspension of all football activities.
Subject to the further easing of restrictions by the ACT Government, NPL1, NPL2 and NPLW will resume in a month's time in a shortened format, with the seasons cut to only eleven matches in 2020.
The 2020 NPLW competition will consist of nine regular round matches, allowing for teams to play each other once, before the top four compete in the Semi Finals scheduled on 19/20 September.
Similarly, the NPL2 competition will see the ten teams play each other once before the top four compete in Semi Finals on the weekend of the 19/20 September 2020, with the Grand Final scheduled for the following weekend.
Due to the shortened season, Capital Football has decided that no teams will be promoted or relegated between NPL1 and NPL2 in the 2020 season.
Meanwhile, the eight NPL1 teams will play each other once during the regular season before splitting into a top and bottom four round-robin competitions.
The top two of the top four group will then qualify for the Grand Final on the 26/27 September.
Capital Football CEO Phil Brown said the difference in the competition structures was designed so all teams played as many matches as possible.
"At the moment there are eight teams in NPL1 for men and they will play each other once," Mr Brown said. "The top four play each other once to take them through to 10 games. The top two will go into the final.
"It is the same for the bottom four. So the bottom four will play each other once and the top two of the bottom four will play in a final.
"We believe this creates excitement and meaning for matches all the way through to the end of the season and gives something for everyone to play for.
"On the other hand, NPLW and NPL2 will have a more traditional approach. They have more teams in their leagues so we were unable to fit in the round-robin style finals format"
Click here to read more about Capital Football's competition structures for 2020.
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