As the top-tier Taiwan Football Premier League has seen growing interest from fans worldwide thanks to livestreaming since its season started on April 14, sports officials said that English-language commentary would continue to be broadcast this weekend and in the coming weeks.
After three rounds of play in the league, Taipower top the table following three wins in three matches for nine points.
Hang Yuan, Taiwan Steel Group and Taichung Futuro have all bolstered their rosters to mount challenges with the aim of breaking a stranglehold on the top by perennial powerhouses Taipower and Tatung.
Photo courtesy of the CTFA
Taiwan is one of the few nations with a top-division soccer competition, as most professional leagues have suspended play due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
All local matches are played behind closed doors without fans and officials of the CTFA governing body have enforced disease prevention measures, including checking the temperature of everyone entering stadiums, providing hand sanitizer, registering the personal information of everyone entering, placing limits on the number of workers and media, and issuing identification cards for access to certain areas.
Team officials have been ordered to monitor their players’ health conditions daily, and keep them from visiting night markets and other crowded places, CTFA secretary-general Fang Ching-jen said, adding that when not playing, players must wear a mask at all times when they leave their homes.
Broadcast agreements have been reached with Videoland Sports TV to televise the men’s Premier League and China Television System to air the women’s Mulan League, Fang said, adding that both TV networks are working with the CTFA to provide livestreams of matches via the YouTube channel CTFA.TV.
One match from each weekend’s Premier League fixtures is to feature English-language commentary, such as tomorrow’s 4pm match between Tatung and LHNTUS at Taipei Municipal Stadium.
Outside of Taiwan, English-language broadcasts of the three previous Premier League rounds garnered the most viewers from the UK, Italy and Japan, followed by Indonesia, Poland, Turkey, Hong Kong, Spain and the US, league officials said, adding that Taiwanese soccer is gaining fans abroad, who are likely starving for live action due to the pandemic.
While there has been much interest by fans in China, league official said that Chinese cannot view Premier League livestreams due to Beijing’s severe restrictions on Internet access, including YouTube.
In other Premier League action tomorrow, Taipower are to take on the Red Lions in Taoyuan, second-placed Hang Yuan are to host MCU at Fu Jen Catholic University in New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang District and Taiwan Steel Group are to face Taichung Futuro in Tainan.
All matches kick off at 4pm.
In the Mulan League, three third-round matches are scheduled for today at Hualien Stadium.
Defending champions Taichung Blue Whales are to take on Hang Yuan at 10am, followed by Kaohsiung Sunny Bank facing off with Taipei Bravo at 1pm and Hualien playing Inter Taoyuan at 4pm.
Jonas Vingegaard on Tuesday claimed the overall Vuelta a Espana lead while Jay Vine earned the stage 10 victory for his second triumph of the race. Two-time Tour de France winner Vingegaard overhauled Torstein Traen’s lead to head the general classification by 26 seconds from the Norwegian, with Joao Almeida third and trailing the Dane by 38 seconds. Vine put in an unmatchable performance on the final climb to finish ahead of Spanish Movistar riders Pablo Castrillo and Javier Romo. “Back in red, I’m happy with it, it’s a beautiful jersey,” Vingegaard said. “I’m happy with how the day went,
Australian Alex de Minaur reached the second week of the US Open for the third year in a row with little fanfare on Saturday and said he intended to keep winning until the tournament organizers were forced to give him better billing. Despite being the eighth seed and a quarter-finalist last year at Flushing Meadows, De Minaur’s third-round match against German Daniel Altmaier was scheduled for Court 17 — the smallest of the four stadium venues in the precinct. “It is a little bit of a headscratcher for me. I’m not gonna lie,” he told reporters after progressing 6-7 (9/7), 6-3, 6-4,
RIVALRY: Carlos Alcaraz lost his previous two matches against Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, in the Australian Open quarter-finals this year and Paris Olympics final last year Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz on Tuesday dazzled at the US Open to make the semi-finals before Novak Djokovic of Serbia danced his way through to book a New York showdown with the Spaniard that would mark the latest chapter in their generational rivalry. Former champion Alcaraz produced yet another entertaining display at Flushing Meadows to dismantle 20th seed Jiri Lehecka 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 at a sunbathed Arthur Ashe Stadium, securing his place in the last four without dropping a set this year. “Sometimes I play a shot that I should not play in that moment, but it’s the way I love
Spain are in danger of not getting out of EuroBasket Group C after losing 67-63 to Italy on Tuesday, but the defending champions still control their destiny. Marco Spissu put Italy in front for good at 64-63 with two free throws with 31 seconds left and made two more with 14 seconds remaining. Giampaolo Ricci converted one of two free throws with eight seconds on the clock. Spain, which in 2022 won their fourth title, are tied with Georgia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina at 2-2 each. Greece and Italy have clinched two of the group’s four spots in the round-of-16,
RSS