Attention turns to #South Korea and #Faroe Islands as domestic football seasons begin in spite of pandemic

While the most attention in Europe is on the return of football in Germany with Bundesliga clubs set to resume playing later this month, this weekend South Korea will become the first country to restart its domestic league after the coronavirus pandemic.

The K League will launch a new season on Friday and, although games will be played behind closed doors for the time being, there are hopes – in stark contrast to Europe – that fans will soon be allowed into the stadiums because the virus has been so effectively contained.

South Korea has been one of the biggest success stories in this health emergency, despite its close geographical proximity to China, the original source of the outbreak.

Korea has only had 256 confirmed deaths from the virus, with 10,810 confirmed cases, managing to contain and prevent the spread thanks to a rigorous testing programme and tracing contact scheme.

To put those figures into perspective, the United Kingdom has already suffered more than 30,000 coronavirus deaths with more than 200,000 confirmed cases, which makes this country the hardest hit in Europe. In Germany, where games are expected to return as early as next week, there have been more than 7,000 deaths and 168,000 confirmed cases.

The South Korean government has remained cautious throughout the crisis but will allow the 12 teams in K1 and the dozen more in K2 to start the new season this weekend, where reigning champions Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors will defend their title.

Korean football

Speaking on the new Gazzetta Football Korea podcast, which aims to introduce new supporters to the league, journalist Tom Clark said: “There is not a lot of football going on around the world and because Korea has been pretty good in its reaction to the coronavirus pandemic, it is able to start up again on May 8. The games this weekend will kick off around 11am UK time, so it’s perfect…

“The league is going to be behind closed doors to start with, but at least there is some live football to follow and there is not a lot of that going on at the minute.

“Unless you are lucky enough to have Korean channels in your home, it is not clear yet how you will be able to watch it. I spoke to Sports Radar, who have the international broadcast rights, and they are in conversation with lots of European broadcasters about showing the games and with ESPN in the USA. Failing that, there is a K League YouTube channel which shows highlights of all the games.

“The good thing about this is this is the start of a new season, not a resumption. So, they have been able to put rules in place that if a player tests positive, they know exactly what is going to happen. If there is a positive test on a matchday, the whole league stops for two weeks while that club quarantines. There are also bans on spitting and players talking to each other, although I’m not sure how that is going to work in practice.”

UK based South Korean journalist, Hur Yumi, added: “All of the players, staff and employees all passed their Coronavirus tests last week and there will be matchday tests as well.

“There will be no fans allowed into the stadium and there are other strict protocols to follow, so all managers, players and coaches from every club will be tested before they enter the stadium. They will also have a temperature test so all sorts of precautions… if one player fails those tests the whole team has to go into quarantine.”

Daegu FC  - Daegu FC via Reuters

Jeonbok are, along with Seongnam FC, whose Magpie symbol and black and white kit should make them popular with fans of Newcastle United, are the two most successful clubs in Korean football with seven titles each.

Other names to look out for are Poohang Steelers, Daegu FC, Busan IPark, Ulsan Hyundai, FC Seoul, Suwon Samsung Bluewings, Incheon United, Gangwon FC, Gwangju FC and Sangju Sangmu.

The new football season comes just two days after the return of professional baseball in South Korea. Next week, South Korea will also become the first country to see women’s professional golf resume after COVID-19. South Korean players dominate women’s golf with eight featuring in the world’s top 20, including number one Ko Jin-young.

The $1.8 million Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association Championship begins on May 14 in Yangju, east of Seoul with world number six Kim Sei-young and 10th-ranked Lee Jeong-eun in the 144-strong field.  

Meanwhile, in Europe, the Faroe Islands will be the first domestic club competition to restart this weekend, ahead of Germany the following week. The season had been due to start on March 8, but has been delayed by two months.

The Faroe Islands’ coronavirus outbreak began on March 3 and two months later it appears to have been halted, with only 187 cases in a population of just over 52,000 and no recorded deaths.