Spotlight on Faroe Islands as football is back

The windswept north Atlantic archipelago, with a population of about 50,000, is among the first countries where professional football is resuming after the coronavirus outbreak though matches will for now be played in empty stadiums. 

The Faroe Islands is a minnow of European football.

But, officials say its 10-team top division is attracting more attention than usual as football-starved fans seek out games to watch as they await the reopening of the world’s top leagues. “There has been some international interest in the league and that is new for us. But, we have a very good league and a lot of foreign players from Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Serbia,” Roin Schroter, chairman of the competitions committee of the Faroe Islands Football Association, said in an interview.

He told Reuters a deal had been reached for matches to be televised and shown abroad but gave no details. It is to be noted South Korea’s K league started on Friday.

In Europe, Germany’s Bundesliga has been given the green light to resume on May 16.

The Belarusian Premier League, one of Europe’s less glamorous competitions, had carried on with matches despite the coronavirus outbreak. 

Situated about 600 km (370 miles) north of Scotland, the Faroe Islands has reported no deaths from the coronavirus but plans are in place in case a player tests positive for the virus.

“If someone in one of the teams gets infected, we have breaks built in to the competition that we can use, or we can move up the dates,” said Schroter. He added “all clubs understand what we are doing, and they agree with the things we are doing.”

All football teams will be allowed up to five substitutions per match, instead of the usual three, as a temporary measure to help cope with potential fixture congestion in the aftermath of the novel coronavirus outbreak, world body FIFA said on Friday.