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From ‘Project Restart’ in the Premier League to a planned Bundesliga restart later this month, soccer bosses around the world are doing their best to get the leagues back on track after the coronavirus pandemic.
Taiwan’s Premier League started last month and joined Belarus, Burundi, Nicaragua and Tajikistan in holding games.
However, those countries have not seen the number of infections and deaths due to Covid-19 that South Korea has, but they still seem ready to join that list when their K-League begins behind closed doors on Friday, May 8.
Life is already beginning to return to the status quo, with the outbreak apparently under control and new single-digit cases after a February spike.
But why are they coming back so soon? And what steps are being taken to mitigate the risk when games restart? Sportsmail Take a closer look at how South Korea is about to bring the sport to fame.
The South Korean K-League will start again on Friday after a delay of more than two months.
South Korea will join people like Belarus and Taiwan to hold games amid the current crisis
When was soccer postponed and how did it recover?
The new K-League season was due to start more than two months ago, on February 29.
However, the 12-team league was postponed on February 24 due to the severe outbreak of the virus in the country.
A first meeting with representatives from each side took place on March 30, where the K-League said playing without fans was simply not an option.
He claimed that if it was not safe enough to have spectators leaning against the stands, it was also not safe for the players, coaches or referees to be on the field.
A meeting with teams like FC Seoul in March said the games would not happen without fans.
However, a critical moment came in the penultimate week of last month when the players returned to training and started playing with each other.
And that happened before the major announcement on Friday, April 24, of the Korean Professional Soccer League, which announced that they had changed their stance after a meeting with club representatives at the league’s headquarters in Seoul.
The statement said that both his top-tier K-League 1 and second-tier K-League 2 would begin their 2020 seasons on May 8.
Some friendly matches have been held since then, including between Incheon United FC and Suwon FC, but league action will return when Jeonbuk Motors meets Suwon Bluewings in the opening match on Friday night.
The last action seen was the Asia Champions League game between Suwon and Vissel Kobe.
Why are you allowed to return so quickly?
South Korean Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said during a government conference on Sunday that the country will implement the “daily life quarantine scheme” starting Wednesday.
The relaxation of social distancing measures is believed to be particularly due to a continued decline in new cases of coronavirus in recent days.
The nation saw one of the worst early outbreaks of the disease outside of China, after which strict social distancing directives were implemented in March.
Prime Minister Chung Sye-kyun said a “quarantine scheme” would take effect on Wednesday
Earlier that month, Reuters reported that there were 86,500 global cases of coronaviruses, most of which occurred in Wuhan province and Hubei in China, but South Korea had the second-highest number of cases in 3,736.
Fortunately, however, the new cases of the virus have not disappeared recently, but due to a different and quite innovative approach for those who see themselves in Europe in the form of long periods of blockade.
Widespread testing, intensive contact tracking, and tracking apps have been the tactics used in the country to try to fight the virus.
The Guardian reported last month that by the time the World Health Organization issued a plea in mid-March for all countries to “test, test, test,” South Korea had already been doing so for several weeks.
Generalized tests have been the key for the country in its attempt to fight the virus.
Very soon, an average of 12,000 people, and sometimes as many as 20,000, per day were tested at hundreds of self-service testing centers. In mid-March, The Guardian claims that more than 270,000 people had been evaluated.
Mobile technology was also used against the outbreak to help track contacts, and those who tested positive asked to describe their recent movements with the help of GPS tracking, surveillance camera footage, and bank card transactions.
That information allowed the Korean Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to issue real-time alerts on where infected people had been before a confirmed positive test.
The Guardian claims that in mid-March, more than 270,000 people had been evaluated
As a result, South Korea appears to have been successful with its “trace, test, and treat” initiative.
The system has been widely praised: case numbers have been reduced and the curve has flattened.
Therefore, some sports, such as soccer and baseball, have once again taken center stage, albeit behind closed doors.
Mobile phone technology was also used against the outbreak to help locate contacts.
What measures are being taken to mitigate the risks?
Despite Sunday’s announcement, there are still strict regulations, particularly for soccer, that extend far beyond the measures taken during the Asian Champions League matches in February.
At that time, fans had to complete a health statement and check their temperature before being admitted.
They also had to use hand sanitizer before entering the stadium and wear a mask throughout the game.
Reports suggest that at least one person with Covid-19 attended Suwon Bluewings’ match against Andrés Iniesta’s Vissel Kobe of Japan, but those measures are believed to have helped prevent the spread.
There will be stricter measures than at the Asian Champions League games in February
However, following the resumption of the K-League, the games will be played behind closed doors for an indefinite period, but barring another major outbreak, Forbes reports that fans hope to be able to attend games again sooner rather than later.
In addition, skins will be mandatory for coaches and other game day staff, and players will be prohibited from speaking to their teammates, opponents, or umpires during matches.
The latter was a move that Incheon United captain Kim Do-hyeok was upset about last month.
“Things like not spitting during the game we cannot do any problem, but it is impossible not to talk to your teammates,” he told reporters at the Incheon soccer stadium.
An infected person is believed to have attended Suwon Bluewings’ match against Andrés Iniesta’s Vissel Kobe (pictured)
“If we can’t have conversations on the field, we better not play soccer.”
However, they seem necessary given the possibility of a new outbreak, and should a player suspect virus symptoms during the season, the player will be removed from the team of the day.
If a player or coach is diagnosed with coronavirus, that particular club will be forced to enter a minimum two-week quarantine.
If dictated by contact tracking results as such, recent team opponents can also be kept off the field for a minimum of fifteen days.
Incheon United’s Kim Do-hyeok is unhappy, players can’t talk to each other on the field
What other rules are being introduced?
In addition to the special health measures that have been introduced, the league rules have also been modified for this season.
Due to the delay resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, the top 12 teams will now only play each other twice, rather than the usual three times, in a move to shorten the season.
The league will split in two and the top six and bottom six will play each other another time.
According to Forbes, the league has also set out in writing the steps that will be taken to determine a final league table and the Champions League venues should be suspended again due to a new outbreak later in 2020.
Teams at the top level will now only play each other twice, instead of the usual three times
The league will also bring new rules from FIFA and the International Football Association Board, which are supposed to go into effect worldwide starting in June.
The new regulations shed some light on two contentious points that emerged from last summer’s tournaments.
If a goalkeeper leaves the line during a penalty kick, he will only receive a verbal warning at the beginning instead of an immediate warning.
Accidental hand balls leading to a goal will also result in the goal being nullified if presented directly before the goal opportunity.
The league will also introduce new FIFA and IFAB rules after a controversy last summer.
Who are the favorites?
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors has been the most successful K-League team in the past decade, having won the league title in five of the past six seasons.
Its manager is none other than José Mourinho’s former assistant, José Morais.
The 54-year-old man was with the Portuguese during their stints at Real Madrid, Inter and Chelsea.
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors are managed by José Mourinho’s former assistant, José Morais (left)
Morais was briefly in full control of football matters at Barnsley, but left the club in May 2018 after his relegation from the Championship.
The team also has a wide variety of talents in its squad, including former Cardiff midfielder Kim Bo-kyung and Dutch forward Lars Veldwijk, who spent two years at Nottingham Forest.
Some of the league clubs are owned by renowned South Korean conglomerates like Samsung and Hyundai.
They used to provide serious financial backing to their teams, but have shrunk in recent years, while most other teams are owned by local governments.
Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors also has former Cardiff midfielder Kim Bo-kyung (left) in his squad
