"My soul is anxious, I worry about my compatriots, my family and my relatives," said Khujand's Uzbekistan 'keeper Mamur Ikramov
Saturday 4 April 2020 12:09, UK
Tajikistan's domestic football season kicks off this weekend despite almost every other league around the world grinding to a halt because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The clubs in the landlocked Central Asian country of nine million people are largely unknown, but the Super Cup clash between champions Istiklol and league runners-up Khujand will see action return to the country on Saturday.
Football has survived in only a few countries around the world with matches from leagues in Belarus, Nicaragua and Burundi taking place.
The Tajikistan pre-season curtain raiser will be played behind closed doors at the Central Republican Stadium in the capital Dushanbe.
The World Health Organization has warned that people should avoid crowds, although the ex-Soviet Union state has not announced a single case of coronavirus infection.
"You know that the championships are stopped in almost all countries because of the coronavirus pandemic," the Dushanbe-based Istiklol manager Vitaliy Levchenko said ahead of the Super Cup clash.
"Thank God, there is no coronavirus in Tajikistan and the new football season begins in the country."
Istiklol won a domestic treble in 2019 and became the first club to win six Tajik League titles in a row.
Tajikistan, whose national sport is gushtigiri, a form of traditional wrestling, have never reached a World Cup or Asian Cup finals, their best achievement coming in 2006 when they won the Asian Challenge Cup - an emerging countries competition.
The country's 10-team league kicks off on Sunday with three games, which will also be played behind closed doors.
The clubs will rely on 42 foreign players, with neighbouring Uzbekistan topping the list with 20 imports followed by Ghana with 10.
"My soul is anxious, I worry about my compatriots, my family and my relatives," said Khujand's Uzbekistan 'keeper Mamur Ikramov. "You know that there are 205 coronavirus cases in Uzbekistan."
