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Football: Polish top flight to return May 29

11.05.2020 07:30
Poland’s top-flight football league is set to return to action on the last weekend of May as the country eases its coronavirus restrictions.
Lechia Gdańsk players in training ahead of the resumption of Polands Ekstraklasa top-flight league season.
Lechia Gdańsk players in training ahead of the resumption of Poland's Ekstraklasa top-flight league season.Photo: PAP/Adam Warżawa

The Ekstraklasa premier league will resume behind closed doors after players and club staff tested negative for the coronavirus, officials have announced.

The company running the league has released a partial schedule of matches to be played after the league restarts on Friday, May 29.

That day, Śląsk Wrocław, who are currently fourth in the league table with 42 points, are scheduled to take on ninth-placed Raków Częstochowa, and Pogoń Szczecin, who are currently in sixth place, will play Zagłębie Lubin, in 11th.

A highlight of the weekend is an encounter in which fifth-placed Lech Poznań will on Saturday, May 30, take on Legia Warsaw, who sit on top of the Ekstraklasa after 26 games with 51 points.

In another attention grabber on May 30, defending champions Piast Gliwice will take on Wisła Kraków, who are currently 13th.

The Polish top flight’s 2019/2020 season is expected to close with matches on the weekend of July 18 and 19.

Last season, Piast Gliwice, a small-budget side, sensationally won Poland’s top flight.

The underdogs, managed by ex-Poland boss Waldemar Fornalik, at the time finished four points ahead of defending champions Legia Warsaw to win their maiden title.

The Polish top flight is set to return after it received the green light from Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on April 25 to prepare for a restart, Poland’s PAP news agency reported.

Morawiecki in mid-April sat down with his Sports Minister Danuta Dmowska-Andrzejuk and the head of the Polish Football Association (PZPN), Zbigniew Boniek, to talk about how sports in the country could be put back on track once the COVID-19 outbreak subsides.

(gs/pk)

Source: PAP