Football across nations

Saturday, 10 July 2021

Telephonat Beni Suef won 1-0 over Fayoum in the last round of the Egyptian Second Division and escaped relegation

Saturday, 3 July 2021, 4 pm local time (2 pm UTC), Alassiouty Sport Resort, Fayoum, Egypt, the 30th (last) round of the Egyptian Second Division, Group A.

Telephonat Beni Suef and Fayoum met in the last round of the Egyptian Second Division, Group A, at Alassiouty Sport Resort, the home ground for both teams this season. Telephonat were officially the hosts and the match was very important for them, because they needed to win in order to maintain chances of survival in the Second Division.

Telephonat eventually won by 1-0. The only goal of the match was scored by Wael Mustafa in the 43th minute.

It was not sure until the end if this result was enough for them to stay in the Second Division. They depended on the result of Shaban Qena, which played at home against El Minya. If Shaban Qena won, Telephonat would have been relegated anyway. Fortunately for them, Shaban Qena and El Minya drew 1-1. The draw sent Shaban Qena to the Third Division, but did not help El Minya either, because Eastern Company won 5-0 and promoted to the Premier League for the first time in history.

This was the first defeat for Fayoum since the arrival of Saad Farouk as manager. They were unbeaten for eight consecutive games before this match. Fayoum eventually finished sixth, their best classification since 2015-2016.

Fayoum SC in their away kits. Source: Fayoum SC Facebook page (Youssef Hamdy)

Results and final table:

Round 30 (3 July 2021)

Aluminium – Beni Suef 2-0

M.S. Samasta – Asyut Cement 0-1

Shaban Qena – El Minya 1-1

Asyut Petroleum – Dayrout 4-2

Telephonat – Fayoum 1-0

Eastern Company – Tahta 5-0

KIMA Aswan – Qena 0-0

Sohag – Media 2-1

Final table

1	Eastern Company (P)	30	17	8	5	50-29	59	Promoted to the Premier League
2	Aluminium	30	17	6	7	40-23	57
3	El Minya	30	14	13	3	38-23	55
4	Media	30	12	10	8	35-28	46
5	Beni Suef	30	11	10	9	28-28	43	[1]
6	Fayoum	30	11	10	9	30-25	43	[1]
7	Asyut Petroleum	30	10	13	7	26-21	43	[1]
8	Sohag	30	10	10	10	22-21	40
9	Dayrout	30	10	8	12	45-43	38
10	Qena	30	9	9	12	29-32	36	[2]
11	KIMA Aswan	30	8	12	10	27-30	36	[2]
12	Telephonat	30	8	11	11	24-25	35
13	Asyut Cement (R)	30	8	9	13	29-37	33	[3]Relegated to the Third Division
14	Shaban Qena (R)	30	7	12	11	20-26	33	[3]Relegated to the Third Division
15	M.S. Samasta (R)	30	6	11	13	21-36	29	Relegated to the Third Division
16	Tahta (R)	30	3	6	21	27-64	15	Relegated to the Third Division

In case that two or more teams are equal on points, the main ranking criteria are the results of the head-to-head matches.

[1] Classification in head-to-head matches: Beni Suef 6p, Fayoum 5p, Asyut Petroleum 3p.

[2] Qena and KIMA Aswan are perfectly equal in terms of head-to-head matches and goal difference, so the next criterion to be taken into consideration is the total number of goals scored: Qena 29, KIMA Aswan 27.

[3] Asyut Cement ahead of Shaban Qena on goal difference in head-to-head matches: Asyut Cement – Shaban Qena 2-1.

Friday, 9 July 2021

1. FK Svidník remain in the Slovak Third League - East Group for the 2021-2022 season

At the end of the 2020-2021 season of the Slovak Third League - East Group, 1. FK Svidník (15th - second to last) and Milénium Bardejovská Nová Ves (16th - last in the table) were officially relegated to the Fourth League.

However, several things happened in the meantime, and the Eastern Slovakia Football Association, which manages the Third League - East Group, as well as the Fourth and Fifth leagues in the eastern part of Slovakia, have just announced that 1. FK Svidník are reprieved from relegation and will remain in the Third League for the 2021-2022 season, set to begin on the 31st of July 2021.

How was this possible? First of all, Partizan Bardejov were no longer relegated from the Second League to the Third League, because Nitra were refused a licence to play in either of the top two leagues. Therefore, the only team to be relegated to the Third League - East Group is FK Poprad. They would be replaced in the Second League by FK Humenné, which have just promoted.

Then, FK Družstevník Plavnica, which finished 9th in the Third League - East Group, decided not to continue at this level. They did not register for the Third League - East Group in the 2021-2022 season, instead they asked permission to play in the Fifth League, citing financial reasons. They were allowed to register for the Fifth League.

Two teams are promoted from the Fourth League, one from the North Group (Raslavice) and one from the South Group (Rudňany). They usually replace the last two classified in the Third League - East Group, which are relegated. However, in this case, only one team should be relegated, because FK Družstevník Plavnica withdrew from the next year competition. As a result, the only relegated team remains the last classified, Milénium Bardejovská Nová Ves, while 1. FK Svidník are eventually spared and would play in the Third League - East Group for the next season.