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.
Fenerbahce on Thursday earned a rare 2-1 win in England, but were still knocked out of the UEFA Europa League by Nottingham Forest in the playoffs. Forest entered the second leg with a healthy 3-0 lead from the opener in Istanbul — where Vitor Pereira made an impact in his first game in charge — and that proved enough to advance to the round-of-16 with a 4-2 aggregate score. The result was a boost for Forest, struggling at 17th place in the Premier League, in their return to Europe after three decades. They next face Real Betis Balompie or Kerem Akturkoglu gave Fenerbahce
Soccer officials yesterday offered “full support and assistance” to the Iranian team in Australia for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup after the US and Israel launched massive attacks on their homeland. Iran’s 26-strong squad arrived on the Gold Coast days before the strikes on Saturday killed supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, as Washington and Tel Aviv seek to topple the Islamic republic. They are due to open their tournament today against South Korea. The AFC in a statement said it “continues to closely monitor the recent developments in the Middle East during this challenging period.” “The AFC’s foremost priority remains the welfare, safety and
ROAD RASH: Marc Marquez retired after a crash, marking the first time after 88 consecutive races stretching back to 2021 that a Ducati bike failed to make the podium Marco Bezzecchi yesterday won the MotoGP season-opening grand prix in Thailand from pole position as defending world champion Marc Marquez retired late with a buckled wheel. Aprilia’s Bezzecchi led from start to finish to top the podium in Buriram, with KTM’s Pedro Acosta second and Trackhouse’s Raul Fernandez third. Ducati’s Marquez is chasing a record-equaling eighth world title this season, but he exited the race in dramatic fashion while in fourth place with five laps to go. The Spaniard, who started from second on the grid, took a corner wide, with the jolt to his bike dislodging the rear tire, badly damaging his
EVERY DAY A VICTORY: Players on the women’s team faced pressure from society just getting out onto the field as they prepare for their first Women’s Asian Cup game today Bangladesh’s national soccer team face daunting odds at their first-ever Women’s Asian Cup, but have already scored a major victory by qualifying. In the South Asian nation of 170 million, social stigma, family expectations, poverty and religious hardliners have long relegated women and girls to sports sidelines. The first women’s soccer league matches took place in 2011 and the squad, known to fans as the Red and Green, have kept pressing forward despite deeply embedded prejudices. “Many more girls would have joined us if the community had been even slightly supportive,” captain Afeida Khandaker told AFP ahead of her side’s March 3
RSS