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.
‘SOURCE OF PRIDE’: Newspapers rushed out special editions and the government sent their congratulations as Shohei Ohtani became the first player to enter the 50-50 club Japan reacted with incredulity and pride yesterday after Shohei Ohtani became the first player in Major League Baseball to record 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season. The Los Angeles Dodgers star from Japan made history with a seventh-inning homer in a 20-4 victory over the Marlins in Miami. “We would like to congratulate him from the bottom of our heart,” top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters in Tokyo. “We sincerely hope Mr Ohtani, who has already accomplished feat after feat and carved out a new era, will thrive further,” he added. The landmark achievement dominated Japanese morning news
When Wang Tao ran away from home aged 17 to become a professional wrestler, he knew it would be a hard slog to succeed in China’s passionate but underdeveloped scene. Years later, he has endured family disapproval, countless side gigs and thousands of hours of brutal training to become China’s “Belt and Road Champion” — but the struggle is far from over. Despite a promising potential domestic market, the Chinese pro wrestling community has been battling for recognition and financial stability for decades. “I have done all kinds of jobs [on the side]... Because in the end, it is very
No team in the CPBL can surpass the Taipei Dome attendance record set by the CTBC Brothers, except when the Brothers team up with Taiwanese rock band Mayday. A record-high 40,000 fans turned out at the indoor baseball venue on Saturday for Brothers veteran Chou Szu-chi’s first farewell game, which was followed by a mini post-game concert featuring Mayday. This broke the previous CPBL record of 34,506 set by the Brothers in early last month, when K-pop singer Hyuna performed after the game, and the dome’s overall record of 37,890 set in early March, which featured the Brothers and the
With a quivering finger, England Subbuteo veteran Rudi Peterschinigg conceded the free-kick that sent his country’s World Cup quarter-final into extra-time before smashing his plastic goalkeeper on the floor in frustration. In the genteel southern English town of Tunbridge Wells, 300 elite players have gathered to play the game they love. “I won’t say this is the best weekend I’ve ever had in my life, but it’s certainly in the top two,” said Hughie Best, 58, who flew in from Perth, Australia, to compete and commentate at the event. Tunbridge Wells is the “spiritual home” of Subbuteo, which was invented there in 1946