Liberia: Monrovia Club Breweries Relegated to Orange 2nd Division
Breweries failed to secure a win after dropping in the modified playoff.
Monrovia Club Breweries have been relegated to the Orange 2nd Division League after a goalless draw against Heaven Eleven on Sunday at the Antoinette Tubman Stadium.
Breweries needed a compulsory win, which it failed to secure, to avoid relegation.
Despite finishing the season above the relegation zone, Breweries could not survive relegation in keeping with Chapter 7, Article 1, Section 1.0 which states: “The last two teams (11th and 12th placed) on the First Division league table shall be automatically relegated to the Second division.
The (9th and 10th) placed teams shall engage in a home and away relegation playoff to determine the third team to be relegated to Second division (away goal rule shall apply). If there is a point gap of 6 or above between the (9th and 10th) placed teams, the 10th placed team shall be automatically relegated and no playoff.”
In the first relegation playoff, Breweries suffered a 4-3 aggregate defeat against traditional club Invincible Eleven (IE) that saw them dropping to the modified playoff introduced by the Football Association due to the increment in the number of teams in various divisions.
In the modified playoff, Breweries had an opportunity to secure a win when they had a 3-1 lead, but failed to take charge of the game as they fell to a 4-3 defeat against Sandi FC.
This is the second time in seven years that the “Beer Boys” have been relegated to the second-tier league.
Interestingly, the proposal to increase the number of clubs was submitted by Breweries at the 26th Ordinary Congress, but wasn’t passed after the votes in favour didn't reach 50 percent as stipulated in the revised statutes.