Ballarat's senior soccer clubs will have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
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Football Victoria announced that relegation would be removed from senior football for the 2020 season so that clubs severely impacted from COVID-19 wont lose their place in football's hierarchy.
The decision means that Ballarat clubs will stay put in their respective competitions, even if they finish in the bottom two this season.
However promotion has been retained, meaning that should a Ballarat club finish on top of the ladder, it will reap the rewards for the 2021 season.
Ballarat City senior women's coach Tessa Curtain said the decision takes the pressure off clubs.
"We are a young squad, so it will be a positive thing in terms of having a run around and getting our girls experience in a senior environment knowing that we are safe," she said.
"But we are hoping to finish in the top three anyway, so it doesn't really change anything in terms of preparation and training."
Ballarat City finished at the bottom of the Football Victoria state league one women's ladder in 2019.
However it managed to retain its spot in the competition following the implementation of a new women's division positioned between state league one and the National Premier League Victoria Women's top tier, the NPLW.
Meanwhile Sebastopol Vikings state league three north-west coach Corey Smith said it was a good decision given the circumstances, but worried it would take the edge out of the competition.
"The whole reason we are involved is to be promoted, but there is also the risk of relegation and that's the beauty of it," he said.
Smith pointed out that while promotion would continue, there was not yet clarity on how many sides would move up at the end of the year.
He said with no clubs getting relegated, there might only be room from one team to get promoted.