Not Caring About COVID-19, These 4 Countries Continue The Football Competition

Istiklol wins his ninth Tajik Super Cup in Saturday's season opener (Twitter @ fcistiklol_2007)

JAKARTA - While most soccer leagues were stopped due to the COVID-19 pandemic or a new type of corona virus, it turns out that there are still several leagues that are continuing to compete. In fact, as if the world was doing well, the Tajikistan League opened its new season on Sunday, April 5 yesterday.

Ehson Boboev scored the winner in the dying minutes to give Khatlon a 2-1 win over Istaravshan. The match was played behind closed doors following a warning by the World Health Organization that the people of Tajikistan should avoid crowds even though the ex-Soviet Union has not confirmed a single case of the coronavirus.

Khatlon, who has won the league three times since Tajikistan became an independent country in 1991, fell behind to seal his first win in the new season.

Meanwhile, Lokomotiv-Pamir was held to a 2-2 draw by Fayzkand with all the goals scored in the second half as Kuktosh drew 0-0 against Reagar-TadAz in the other two matches on Sunday, which were also played behind closed doors.

According to Soccerway, defending champion Istiklol fell behind when he beat Khujand 2-1 and won his ninth Tajik Super Cup in Saturday's season opener.

Central Asia Domestic Wrap: Football returns in Tajikistan, Yakhshiboev stays hothttps: //t.co/J6ki6aNI3f pic.twitter.com/AbAduH7yCA

- Tajikistan Football (@fft_official) April 6, 2020

Apart from Tajikistan, Burundi has restarted its football league competition despite the threat of a coronavirus pandemic. The Burundian football federation made its decision on this Sunday after holding meetings with clubs.

The east African country is one of only four countries whose formal football league continues to play as the rest of the world has suspended sports competitions amid threats from a health crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

Burundi is to continue playing league football despite the threat of the coronavirus pandemic, its football federation decided on Sunday after a meeting of its clubs.https: //t.co/mWjFUBmaHH

- Dispatch AFRICA (@africa_dispatch) April 5, 2020

"After consulting with Minister of Public Health Thaddeus Ndikumana, the general assembly decided that the first and second division championships should be continued while observing appropriate health measures," the federation said.

The season in Burundi - last year's national team competing for the first time in the Africa Cup of Nations finals - has only three games left. So far, there have been three confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection in the country.

Previously reported, the Belarusian League is harvesting profits from broadcasting rights in various countries after deciding to continue competition in the midst of the corona virus pandemic that is sweeping the world.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko even gave full support to football in his country and did not even take the precautionary measures to maintain distance to its citizens, which almost all countries in the world apply. He himself claims he still regularly plays ice hockey with his colleagues.

Victory !!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 # fcbate # ДаПерамогіРазам pic.twitter.com/5guWaz7tTM

- FC BATE Borisov (@FCBATE) April 4, 2020

The Belarusian League operator also still allows supporters to watch their favorite teams' matches live in the stadium. Belarus has so far reported only 94 positive cases of corona according to data from the WHO official website as of March 29, but has not taken many significant preventive steps.

Apart from Tajikistan, Burundi and Belarus, the Central American country Nicaragua also continues its football competition.

⚽️🇳🇮 Meanwhile ... football continues in Nicaragua! The only countries playing professional football: Belarus 🇧🇾 Burundi 🇧🇮 Nicaragua 🇳🇮 pic.twitter.com/wlBtVjyTnl

- RT Sport (@RTSportNews) April 2, 2020