Brazil Leader Wants Football Season Back Despite Pandemic Smaller Regional Leagues Players Have to Survive Somehow
Established 1961 19 Sports Monday, June 1, 2020 Brazil leader wants football season back despite pandemic Smaller regional leagues players have to survive somehow RIO DE JANEIRO: The right-wing populist presi- Bolsonaro’s remit to restart football. This must be dent of Brazil wants the football season to resume done by the regional states and municipalities. even though the five-time World Cup winning coun- When football was suspended, seasons at the try is a hotspot of the coronavirus pandemic. regional level were underway, but the national Brazil is for many synonomous with football and championship had been due to start in May and as many of the all-time greats, from Pele to Neymar, yet there are no solid plans to begin. hail from the nation. But Brazil is is also the epicen- Bolsonaro and his son held meetings on May 19 tre of Latin America’s coronavirus outbreak. with the presidents of two Rio superclubs, Vasco da The death toll from coronavirus in Brazil has hit Gama and Flamengo. Photos of Bolsonaro and his 27,878, official figures showed on Friday, surpassing son wearing the shirts of the two clubs stunned the toll of hard-hit Spain and making it the country social media, with official supporter groups claiming with the fifth-highest num- their image had been sold ber of fatalities. out to politics. Football has been sus- “This is just political pended in Brazil since intolerance,” said mid-March but President Flamengo president Jair Bolsonaro recently Political Rodolfo Landim, explain- told Radio Guaiba that ing that Bolsonaro just footballers would likely intolerance wants football back as not fall very ill with soon as possible and he COVID-19.
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