The good news came from Asian football activities and ironically it did not come from Indonesia but came from a close neighbor of China, namely South Korea. K-League as the highest caste league in the country of ginseng is scheduled to be resumed starting on May 8, 2020. Of course this is good news for players, fans, and of course business people who depend on K-League’s presence.
The Korean Football Association (KFA) issued several special regulations to hold this competition. The regulation certainly still follows the COVID-19 control and prevention rules even though there are no more deaths from COVID-19 and positive cases of this disease have decreased significantly. The rules do not limit the style of competition and tactics of training each club but cut some activities related to gathering.
The first regulation is that there should be no spectators either during away or home matches. This clearly reduces the fighting spirit of the players who seem to still need the enthusiasm and support of their fans. This is a tough task for the public relations and official fans of each club to show that their fans can still see and provide support even if they are not in the stadium.
The second regulation is the team’s obligation not to enter the competition for 2 weeks if there are players or club officials who are positively affected by the Corona virus (Coverage 6, 2020). COVID-19 in South Korea has not yet been declared and the regulation must be complied with in order to support the suppression of positive numbers of sufferers of the Corona virus.
Even if there is a club that is canceled while participating in the competition, it is clearly detrimental to the club and confusing the league authority that must tinker with the schedule that has been arranged.
The third regulation is the reduction in the number of regular matches and final round matches. As a result the total regular matches from 38 matches of each club were reduced to 22 regular matches, and the league authorities added five final round matches. By trimming the final round matches, it is expected that the tight league competition can be replaced like the previous competition which was run normally.
The fourth regulation is the limitation of physical contact that can accelerate the transmission of the Corona virus during matches. As long as the pandemic has not been declared, the player, team official and referee are required to:
Do not spit,
You can’t talk to each other, All team officials, league officials and reserve players must wear masks,
Do not do a handshake,
These rules certainly reduce the quality of the match and complicate the interaction between the coach and the players who are competing because it is useful to implement strategies or change tactics that are a common sight in official matches. This is reinforced by the statement of the captain of the Incheon United club, Kim Do-Hyeok.
“However, not communicating with teammates on the field is impossible. If we don’t have conversations on the field, we might not play at all.” The K-League competition is the first professional soccer competition in Asia (Sport Illustrated, 2020) which was first held in 1983.
K-League 1, which is the official name of this professional competition, should have started their 38th league on February 28, but was canceled due to the decision of the South Korean Government to limit social and cultural activities due to the Corona pandemic.
K-League 1 plans to start the competition on May 8, 2020 with the opening match being Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors as the defending champion against Suwon Samsung Bluewings in Jeonbuk city.
This domestic league can be the ultimate stage for players who have long served their country in terms of football, including South Korean legend Lee Lee-Gook. The 40-year-old who played for the defending champion could have ended his career in the 2020 season amid the rise of the K League 1 competition.
ASL
