Poles go for 12-12-18-style league split

POLAND is to adopt a top-eight split for their league next season, just as Scottish football rejected their plans.

Scottish football considered a 12-12-18 system, with the 24 clubs in the top two tiers being split into three groups of eight after 22 matches of the season. But, just as Scottish football was signalling the death knell to those plans, Polish football was embracing its own version of the split.

From next season, the Ekstraklasa will split after 30 games. The ‘champion’ section and ‘relegation’ section will both have eight teams and seven more games will be played – with the top four teams in each segment getting four home games, compared to the others’ three – and two teams will be relegated. Poland opted to change their structure because of pressure from sponsors and media partners and the season will now kick off on July 13 and last until May.

Swiss and Austrian football had splits in their top flight, but abandoned them when attendances fell. Scotland and Georgia are the only nations using a split system in Europe.