Serbian League set for June re-start
Serbian Rugby League clubs resumed training this week after two months of lay off because COVID-19 pandemic. At the beginning of the month, local government loosened hard quarantine measures and outdoor sports are among the first organised activities to get permission to go back to work.
Closely working with the clubs, SRL changed the season calendar to set the the official restart as set for June 2nd commencing with the Serbian Cup Quarterfinals. Further Cup matches – Semis and Grand Final will take up most of the next month’s restarted competition.
All the government safety measures will be followed in our decision to resume the season”, says SRL secretary general Vladan Kikanovic. “Life in Serbia is slowly going back to normal, so we are also really carefully resuming preparing for the competition restart. As it stand at the beginning of the June we will play Cup matches.”
The pandemic stoppage forced SRL to extend spring part of the season into July. Three rounds of the SRL Super League will be played after the qualification process was finished before quarantine. Holders Red Star, Partizan and both Radnicki’s – from Belgrade and Nis will battle for Serbian throne.
“At international level our priority this season was U19 European championship which is postponed, but we will continue to build our squad, so we are hoping to be able to continue our tradition and have the annual Belgrade Trophy in August. the terms for international travel aren’t yet set so it’s only a projection that we can have foreign guests to play at this stage. Also, later in the second part of the season our focus will be on fourth season of Balkan Super League and European Championship B” added Kikanovic.
A condensed schedule means that the SRL season paused for a month over the summer. After the Belgrade Trophy in the middle of the August, regional Balkan Super League will kick start its fourth season with a new knock-out cup format.
Serbian Super League will get is new champion in first weekend of October, while the rest of the month is reserved for Serbia’s game in European Championship B against Russia and Greece. BSL Grand Finals will close up the season on November 2nd.
