Coronavirus and sports leagues: obtaining a fair ranking when the season cannot resume

Many sports leagues are played in a tightly scheduled round-robin format, leaving limited time window to postpone matches. If the season cannot resume due an external shock such as coronavirus pandemic 2020, ranking of teams becomes non-trivial: it is necessary account for schedule imbalances and possibly different number matches played. First literature, we identify set desired axioms these incomplete tournaments. It verified that generalised row sum, parametric family scoring rules, satisfies all them. In particular, well-established least squares method maximizes influence strength opponents on ranking. Our approach applied six major premier European soccer competitions, where rankings found be robust concerning weight adjustment opponents. Some methodologically simpler alternative policies also discussed.