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OFA announces schedule for new season

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MUSCAT, Sept 22 -


The Oman Football Association (OFA) has announced the schedule for new season 2020-2021.


The top tier Omantel League will start from December 3, 2020, and conclude on April 30, 2021.


The prestigious His Majesty Cup 2020-21 tournament will begin on January 1, 2021, and conclude on April 9, 2021.


OFA Assistant General Secretary Shabib al Hosni said the OFA has fully arranged the medical protocol needed for the start of the matches at the stadiums.


“We had already arranged the full medical protocol instructed by the Ministry of Health and the Supreme Committee at the stadiums. All the matches will be held in full compliance with the COVID-19 precautionary measures,” Shabib told Oman Observer.


The remaining three round matches of the Omantel League 2019-20 will be played on October 16, October 28 and November 1. There will be seven matches a day as the league had entered the final stage.


“All the seven matches on each matchday will start at the same time to avoid any chance of fixing the results,” the OFA official said.


“We are using several stadiums for this purpose and many venues without proper sporting action will benefit from this,” Shabib said.


Seeb are topping Omantel League by 50 points while Dhofar are placed second with 45 points. At the bottom of the league table order, Mirbat are confirmed of their relegation to the first division league while Al Oruba and Oman Club are positioned in the 12th and 13th positions respectively.


HM CUP SEMIS


In the HM Cup 2019-20, the second leg of the semifinal between Al Nahda and Dhofar will be played at Al Sada Complex on November 6, 2020.


The second leg of the semifinal between Ibri and Al Oruba will be held at the Sur Complex on November 7. Both matches will kick off at 7 pm.


Ibri beat Al Oruba 2-1 in the first leg of the semifinal while the match between Al Nahdha and Dhofar ended in a 1-1 draw.


Meanwhile, the first division league will resume on December 3, 2020, and continue till April 28, 2021.


The first division league 2019-20 had reached the second stage of group matches when the sports activities were stopped due to the pandemic.


Junior leagues like Under-21, Under-19, Under-17 and Under-15 will kick off on December 1, 2020. Concluding dates will be decided later.


NEW FORMAT


Omantel League for next season will be played in a round-robin format in the first and second rounds.


The 14 teams will play home and away matches against each other in the first round and according to their points position, the clubs will be placed in Group A and B in the second round.


The top two teams from each group will qualify to the semifinals after the second round as the league will employ knockout format for semifinals and final.


 


Anuroop Athiparambath


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