Advertisement
New Zealand markets closed
  • NZX 50

    12,105.29
    +94.63 (+0.79%)
     
  • NZD/USD

    0.5971
    -0.0004 (-0.07%)
     
  • NZD/EUR

    0.5540
    +0.0007 (+0.12%)
     
  • ALL ORDS

    8,153.70
    +80.10 (+0.99%)
     
  • ASX 200

    7,896.90
    +77.30 (+0.99%)
     
  • OIL

    83.11
    -0.06 (-0.07%)
     
  • GOLD

    2,254.80
    +16.40 (+0.73%)
     
  • NASDAQ

    18,254.69
    -26.15 (-0.14%)
     
  • FTSE

    7,952.62
    +20.64 (+0.26%)
     
  • Dow Jones

    39,807.37
    +47.29 (+0.12%)
     
  • DAX

    18,492.49
    +15.40 (+0.08%)
     
  • Hang Seng

    16,541.42
    +148.58 (+0.91%)
     
  • NIKKEI 225

    40,369.44
    +201.37 (+0.50%)
     
  • NZD/JPY

    90.3160
    -0.0770 (-0.09%)
     

Nicaraguan footballers playing on but players fear virus

SHOWS:

MANAGUA, NICARAGUA (APRIL 4, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

1. FANS WATCHING SOCCER GAME ON SCREEN

ESTELI, NICARAGUA (RECENT) (DEPORTIVO LAS SABANAS HANDOUT - ACCESS ALL)

2. VARIOUS OF GAME BETWEEN DEPORTIVO LAS SABANAS VS REAL ESTELI

MANAGUA, NICARAGUA (APRIL 2, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

3. INTERVIEW VIA SKYPE WITH CARLOS MOSQUERA, A COLOMBIAN GOALKEEPER WITH DEPORTIVO LAS SABANAS BY REUTERS JOURNALIST ANDREW DOWNIE

MANAGUA, NICARAGUA (APRIL 4, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

4. VARIOUS OF RESIDENTS IN CITY WEARING FACE MASKS

DIRIAMBA, NICARAGUA (APRIL 4, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

5. SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE NICARAGUAN FOOTBALL FEDERATION, JOSE MARIA BERMUDEZ KICKING A FOOTBALL

ADVERTISEMENT

6. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE NICARAGUAN FOOTBALL FEDERATION, JOSE MARIA BERMUDEZ, SAYING:

"What we received and it was a request from a broadcast company in Sweden, who showed interest, in showing logically live league games, for the same thing. I think here, nationwide, we won't achieve the same thing because it's accessible but soccer has been halted all over the world. Soccer is the number 1 sport around the world so people who are fans want to watch football. I think that's part of the reasons why people have turned their attention over here."

MANAGUA, NICARAGUA (APRIL 4, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

7. VARIOUS OF FANS WATCHING SOCCER GAME ON SCREEN

8. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SOCCER FAN, ERICK VANEGAS, SAYING:

''I think it's a bad decision on behalf of the directors and the league because they are risking the health of the players and their families because we have seen in other countries - in Italy, Spain - famous players who have tested positive for coronavirus.''

DIRIAMBA, NICARAGUA (APRIL 4, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

9. BERMUDEZ, DURING INTERVIEW

10. (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE NICARAGUAN FOOTBALL FEDERATION, JOSE MARIA BERMUDEZ, SAYING:

"The games are being played behind closed doors. That is one of the measures. The contagion between players, all the players are following the protocols of hygiene, with soap, liquids, antibacterial gel, a series of things. Also clubs are checking their players during training sessions and they have not found or seen players with symptoms."

ESTELI, NICARAGUA (RECENT) (DEPORTIVO LAS SABANAS HANDOUT - ACCESS ALL)

11. VARIOUS OF GAME BETWEEN DEPORTIVO LAS SABANAS VS REAL ESTELI

MANAGUA, NICARAGUA (APRIL 4, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

12. FANS WATCHING SOCCER GAME ON SCREEN

STORY: Football in Nicaragua is enjoying a surge in popularity as one of the few national leagues where games are still ongoing but players in action there are concerned about the spread of the new coronavirus and say fear has changed the way they play.

"We try to avoid touching other players," Carlos Mosquera, goalkeeper with Deportivo Las Sabanas, told Reuters.

"The fear of what is happening in the world is always present. Mentally, you're not focused on the game, you are always thinking that opponents may have the disease."

The Primera Liga de Nicaragua is one of only four leagues believed to have survived the coronavirus lockdown, along with those in Belarus, Burundi and Tajikistan.

Games in the Central American nation are being played behind closed doors but are being broadcast locally on television or live on Facebook.

The refusal to shut down has drawn global attention to football in a nation that has long preferred baseball, a sport that is also resisting a lockdown in Nicaragua.

The secretary general of the Nicaraguan Football Federation, Jose Maria Bermudez, said fans from around the world are now tuning in to watch games and bet on them.

Bermudez also said with live sport almost entirely absent from the world's TV screens, at least one foreign company had been in touch with the local rights holder, state-run Canal 6, asking to broadcast Nicaraguan games live.

That could result in a windfall for the unheralded league.

Bermudez stressed that the 10-team league has not decided to complete their season, merely "to keep playing for as long as the situation permits."

There are five regular season matches to play before the top four teams go into a semi-final and final round play-off expected to begin in late April.

He pointed out that Nicaragua has recorded only a handful of cases of the new coronavirus and no deaths so far.

The number of confirmed cases had risen to five by Friday.

Players said they were not consulted about the decision to keep playing, which was taken after a meeting between the league and club owners, many of whom get financial support from the government of Nicaragua's authoritarian president Daniel Ortega.

Ortega has insisted Nicaragua is taking the most sensible approach to dealing with the pandemic. Critics say he wants to show the world that life in Nicaragua continues as normal.

Washington imposed sanctions on Nicaragua following a crackdown on opposition protests in 2018. Some members of the European Union have accused Ortega of jailing and torturing political prisoners and banning human rights groups and media outlets, something the government denies.

Some players lined up for games this week wearing masks and gloves.

Players at Deportivo Las Sabanas club told Reuters they needed to keep playing to support their families, and half-jokingly said the newfound interest in Nicaraguan football could help win them a transfer to a bigger club.

(Production: Arnaldo Arita, Manuel Carrillo)