An annual soccer festival featuring players from the local international community has been rebranded “World Cup Taiwan 2021,” with 18 teams representing 25 countries competing in New Taipei City on Oct. 23 and 24.
Ten ambassadors and heads of foreign representative offices, along with Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials, attended yesterday’s launch event, previously known as “Copa America Taiwan.”
It is to feature for the first time a friendly game between ministry officials and representatives of the foreign diplomatic corps. The two-day event is to take place at the Fu Jen Catholic University Stadium in New Taipei City.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Fernando Ramos, a Honduran who stayed to work after graduating in Taiwan, co-organized the event with the Taiwan Digital Diplomacy Association and the Taiwan Football Development Association.
“It is more than just football games. World Cup Taiwan has a much bigger goal to promote this democratic country,” Ramos said in his address.
“The tournament’s theme is ‘One Sport, One World’ for players and participants to create long-lasting relationships between civil society and the governments of the participating countries,” he added.
Last year, a Latin Food Festival was held alongside the games, with 13 countries participating. This year, 18 teams, including men and women from 25 countries, are competing, although the matches are to be shortened to 50 minutes to accommodate all the games over two days, the organizers said.
This year’s games are to be played behind closed doors and would not be open to spectators due to COVID-19 restrictions and disease prevention measures.
However, the event will be broadcast live on radio and television channels in Honduras, Guatemala and Paraguay.
Other participating countries include Nicaragua, El Salvador, Belize, Haiti, Italy, the UK, Spain and the US.
Taiwanese and people living abroad can follow all the matches on the tournament’s official Facebook page and on YouTube.
A study published by online booking platform Expedia revealed searches for travel to Taipei have ballooned 2,786 percent following the lifting of COVID-19 pandemic travel restrictions due to the city being a “designation dupe” for Seoul. The TikTok trend for duping — referring to substituting a designation for a more inexpensive alternative — helped propel interest in Taipei, it said in a consumer survey titled “Unpack ‘24,” which was conducted from September to October in 14 countries. Location dupes are “every bit as delightful as the tried-and-true places travelers love,” Expedia trend tracker Melanie Fish said of the year’s popular alternatives, which
SAFETY IN REGULATION: The proposal states that Chiayi should assess whether it is viable to establish such a district and draft rules to protect clients and sex workers The Chiayi City Council passed a motion yesterday to assess the viability of establishing a regulated red-light district. The council yesterday held its last session of the year, at which its fiscal 2024 budget was approved, along with 61 other proposals. The proposal to assess the viability of establishing a red-light district was put forward by independent Chiayi City Councilor Molly Yen (顏色不分藍綠支持性專區顏色田慎節). The proposal cited 2011 amendments to the Social Order Maintenance Act (社會秩序維護法), which stipulate that city and county governments can pass autonomous regulations on the sex trade to manage the industry and guarantee industry workers’ rights. A ban on the
A small-scale protest that called on the government to cancel its plan to welcome Indian migrant workers in a bid to tackle Taiwan’s labor shortage was held in Taipei yesterday. During the protest, comprised of a few dozen people staged in front of the Presidential Office on Ketagalan Boulevard, the protest’s chief initiator, a woman identified only as “Yuna” said they wanted the central government to reconsider allowing migrant workers from India to enter Taiwan. Most people in Taiwan had little knowledge about the potential plan to allow in Indian migrant workers until a report in the media last month, she
STABILITY AND CHANGE: Flagging in recent polls, Ko this week pledged to maintain President Tsai’s foreign policy, with an emphasis on improving China relations Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday reiterated that he is “deep-green at heart” in response to accusations that he is pivoting his campaign to align closer with the ideology of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the face of flagging polls. Ko made the remark at an agricultural policy conference in Taipei, repeating his comments from an interview with CTS News a day earlier. Ko told the CTS host that he would continue to pursue President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) national defense and foreign policy in general, but with an emphasis on establishing a rapport with
RSS