September 26, 2009: 1st division news:

VB/Sumba and B71 Sandoy
back in the top flight 2010

In the penultimate round of the first division, VB/Sumba and B71 Sandoy have secured promotion to the Vodafone Division with victories over MB Miðvágur and HB Tórshavn, respectively.

VB/Sumba scored 4 second half goals to beat already relegated MB Miðvágur 4-0 at home.

B71 beat HB Tórshavn 1-0 on away soil with a goal scored within the first 5 minutes of the match.

TB Tvøroyri who also were in contention for promotion, were beaten 1-0 away to FC Hoyvík. The result means TB lose their chance for promotion as they drop 5 points behind B71 in second spot in the table before the last round next Saturday, 3 October.

It’s still not decided who will win the 1st division, as only 2 points separate VB/Sumba in 1st spot and B71 in second spot. But that is now more a question of formalities as both clubs will be promoted.

Note: From next season, VB/Sumba will be called FC Suðuroy.

The top of the table after today’s matches looks like this:
No 1: VB/SUMBA 51 points
No 2: B71 Sandoy 49 points
No 3: HB Tórshavn 45 points
No 4: TB Tvøroyri 44 points
No 5: B68 Toftir 36 points

As mentioned, MB Miðvágur are already relegated – they have 8 points. The other relegation spot concerns 3 clubs, NSÍ, and Skála who were relegated from the top flight only last season. They had a very shaky start to this season but have made a late charge to shoot up the table with 21 points from their last 11 matches. Today they beat NSÍ Runavík 2-0.

With one round to go, the table at the bottom looks like this:
No 06: Víkingur 34 points (+5 goals)
No 07: NSÍ Runavík 33 points (-7 goals)
No 08: Skála 32 points (+0 goals)
No 09: FC Hoyvík 31 points (-20 goals)
No 10: MB Miðvágur 8 points

The fixture list for the final round next Saturday looks like this:
TB - B68
Víkingur - HB
B71 - NSÍ
Skála - VB/Sumba
MB - FC Hoyvík

FC Hoyvík should be odds on favourites to beat MB which will take FC Hoyvík to 34 points. That means that Skála will have to get at least one point against VB/Sumba in order to avoid relegation. But then they will have to rely on B71 beating NSÍ. So to make sure that they are not relegated, Skála will have to beat VB/Sumba in the next round.

However, there is a possible rescue for the team ending in 9th position. As the rules say that a club can not have two teams in the same division, this could mean that only one team will be relegated from the 1st division.

Here comes some complicated arithmetic:

AB are the winners of the second division and will therefore be promoted to the 1st division. But 07 Vestur who are second, and therefore should have been promoted, will not be promoted anyway because they already have a team in the 1st division. They (07 Vestur) have that (next season) because their 1st team has just been relegated from the Vodafone Division to the 1st division. – Are you having fun?... Hmmm, hang on…

According to the table in the 2nd division on the football association’s website, No. 3 and No. 4 EB/Streymur and KÍ Klaksvík are exactly even:

The rules then state that the bronze medal position shall be decided with a match on neutral ground between the parties.

If EB/Streymur win this match, they will be promoted to the 1st division. But if KÍ win, they will be no. 3 and should therefore be promoted. But if KÍ’s Vodafone Division team is relegated to the 1st division (and that is very likely), then KÍ’s team in the 2nd division will not be allowed to be promoted to the 1st division. But if KÍ become no 3 in the 2nd division, they will block EB/Streymur’s promotion from the 2nd division to the first division, because the rules state that only teams who become no. 1, 2 or 3 can be promoted.

And if only one team is promoted from the 2nd division to the 1st division, then there will be only one team relegated from the 1st division to the 2nd division.

That scenario can save no 9 in the 1st division!

Now, that was simple! :-)

At least, that’s how we interpret the laws and the tables…