As the COVID-19 outbreak appears under control in South Korea, the country’s K League soccer league kicks off next week. It provides an idea of what fans can expect when matches are played behind closed doors in other countries, as well as a first look at FIFA’s new soccer rules in action.
Soccer leagues around the world are trying to work out how to get started again after the COVID-19 pandemic. Games have already resumed in Taiwan and the next place that soccer will resume is South Korea.
With the outbreak under control and the number of new cases dropping below ten a day, life in South Korea seems in many ways like it is back to normal. As a result, the K League,South Korea’s professional soccer league, will begin its season behind closed doors on Friday, May 8th.
Media Rights
The K League has confirmed it will be broadcast in several countries around the world, with other countries in negotiations with the league’s global rights distributor, Sportradar. So far China and Hong Kong as well as several European countries have done deals to show the league, and channels from the U. S., Australia, France and Germany are among those reportedly still in negotiations.
Although the K League will be the strongest league to be playing games for a few weeks at least, it is still several steps below Europe’s top leagues, so might not attract that many casual fans from outside of Asia. Kick off times don’t fall kindly for viewers on the U. S. East Coast, but some games are at suitable times for fans on the West Coast or in Europe to tune in.
Preventing COVID-19
South Korea’s two tiers of professional soccer run their seasons through the summer, and were due to begin this season at the start of March. That start was delayed due to COVID-19, but some clubs did play Asian Champions League matches in February before soccer was put on ice.
At the time of those Asian Champions League matches, there were already a few COVID-19 cases in South Korea, so fans had to fill in a health statement and have their temperature checked before admission. They also had to use hand sanitizer before entering the stadium and wear a mask throughout the game.
It turned out that at least one person with COVID-19 attended Suwon Bluewings’ match against Japanese team Vissel Kobe. That match was well attended as fans braved the cold to watch Kobe’s Andres Iniesta in action, but the measures in place seem to have prevented a spike in cases related to the match.
If there isn’t another major outbreak in the country, fans in Korea expect to be back in the stands sooner rather than later, but for now, the league will kick off behind closed doors.
The K League has taken some extra measures to prevent the spread of the virus, including testing every K League player and match official for COVID-19. Teams with a player testing positive would have had to undergo a two-week quarantine, but luckily, the results for all the players came out negative on Friday.
