The best of 2020

2020 has been a terrible year from many perspectives, and it's been no different for the six teams which we are focusing on (so far): Bourj FC, Fayoum SC, Cusco FC, 1. FK Svidník, OFK Tryavna and Total Soccer.

One team, Total Soccer, did not even had the chance to play a single competitive game this year in the Colombian Youth League (Supercopa Juvenil), as it was cancelled. Other teams, like Bourj FC, 1. FK Svidník and OFK Tryavna, did not play any game in the first half of the year, as the 2019-2020 season was either cancelled (in Lebanon and Slovakia) or "frozen" (in Bulgaria). Relegation was cancelled in all these countries, which was quite a relieve, especially for OFK Tryavna.

The only teams which played several matches in the first months of the year, before the pandemic, were Cusco FC and Fayoum SC. In Peru only six rounds of Apertura had been played when the league was put on hold. The league resumed in August. In Egypt, however, only five rounds remained to be played when the league was interrupted. Those final five rounds of the 2019-2020 season were eventually played in September and October. Fayoum SC were relegated, then saved by the Egyptian FA decision to cancel relegation in the Second Division and lower leagues.

The situation at the end of the year is one of the worst imaginable for most of these teams.

Bourj FC started badly the 2020-2021 season and are now in the lower half of the classification in the Lebanese Premier League. With just one round to be played in the regular first part of the season, it is almost sure that they will not be classified in the top half of the table, which means that they missed the objective and instead of the play-off, they will be in the play-out for the second part of the season. This is a rather unexpected classification, for a team which headed for the top of the league. The manager which brought the promotion and the Challenge Cup last year, Mohamad Dakka, was changed by his assistant, Fouad Hijazi, but the results still did not improve enough.

Cusco FC had the worst season in their history (including Real Garcilaso history), classifying 12th overall, out of 20 teams, in the Peruvian First League. They had their ups and downs during this year, mostly downs. Manager Carlos Ramacciotti saved the team from relegation and is expected to improve the results in 2021.

Fayoum SC had a bad year overall, which was materialized in their tenth place at the end of the 2019-2020 season, which meant relegation according to the initial regulations of the Egyptian FA. The same Egyptian FA changed however the rules and cancelled relegation, which allowed Fayoum to remain in the Egyptian Second Division for the 2020-2021 season. And, after a less promising start, in December the team obtained three wins in a row under new manager Ahmed Bakri, which gives plenty of hope that this season will be different from the previous ones, and the team will no longer be involved in the fight to avoid relegation.

Sadly, the financial and managerial problems hit deep in the case of 1. FK Svidník, a team abandoned by almost everyone, which struggles for survival in the Slovak Third Division. They are now last in the table, the league was interrupted again in October, and unless some miracle happens during the winter break, their chances to avoid relegation are rather slim.

OFK Tryavna are almost in the same situation, though they avoided the last place with an unexpected win in the last round before the winter break. Unlike the Slovak league, the 2020-2021 season of the Bulgarian Third League continued without interruption, but the very young team of OFK Tryavna seems again unprepared for the competition. They succeeded only two wins out of 17 matches and there are doubts that they will escape relegation again, unless a coherent strategy is conceived and applied.

There is not much to be said about Total Soccer, as the Colombian Youth League was cancelled for 2020. Their senior team started for the first time in the Antioquia Premier League, and they had good results, but the league was interrupted after it has just begun.

It is therefore extremely hard to choose for the best team, best performance, best manager or best player. It is almost impossible to choose a "best team", but eventually Fayoum SC has been awarded because of their recent results, which provide them with some fresh air in the upper part of the table, which they did not see in years. The best performance goes to an unexpected win by OFK Tryavna, against one of the good teams in their league. The best manager and the best player belong to Cusco FC. Carlos Ramacciotti was inspiring, while Danilo Carando had one of his best years at Cusco FC, scoring 14 goals, which saw him among the top goalscorers of the league.

Best team

Fayoum SC

Best performance

OFK Tryavna - Spartak Pleven 2-1

Best manager

Carlos Ramacciotti (Cusco FC)

Best player

Danilo Carando (Cusco FC)

A Happy New Year to everyone!