The Royal Moroccan Football Federation has announced plans to restart the 2019-20 Botola Pro season and Botola 2 campaign on July 24.
After a virtual meeting between the league authorities and the FRMF led by President Fouzi Lekjaa, it was announced the campaign will resume next month and end on August 8 without fans in stadiums.
Football activities in Morocco were suspended on March 14 to contain the spread of coronavirus in the country and following the progress made by health institutions, the top-flight and second division clubs have been cleared to resume.training sessions which will be in two stages. These are individual and collective sessions – from June 25 with the individual phase having five players occupying half of the stadium for 10 days.
The FRMF also concluded the start date for the 2020-21 football season will be October 16.
In reducing the impact of Covid-19 on players’ performances, the federation approved the recommendation of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) which grants clubs permission to make five substitutions instead of three in a game. There will also be a pause for three minutes in every 30 minutes of a match.
Prior to the suspension of football in March, Wydad Casablanca sit at the top of the Botola Pro table with 36 points after 18 matches and they still have two games in hand.
FUS Rabat trail in second spot with 35 points after 20 games while Mouloudia Oujda are third with 34 points from 19 outings.
In the Second Division, Maghreb Fes and Chabab Mohammédia are leading the hunt for promotion to Botola Pro, and they are level on 39 points after 22 matches.
