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Free of coronavirus cases, Tajikistan begins soccer season as planned

Maddie Meyer - FIFA / FIFA / Getty

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Tajikistan's domestic season is set to begin on schedule, making it one of the few soccer leagues worldwide to carry on despite the global coronavirus pandemic.

Reigning champions Istiklol defeated last season's runners-up, Khujand, in the Super Cup on Saturday to raise the curtain on the campaign; the 10-team league season opens with matches behind closed doors Sunday.

Istiklol, the most successful club in the history of Tajik soccer, are looking to capture their seventh successive league title.

The top flight in Tajikistan will join fellow lesser-known leagues in Belarus, Nicaragua, and Burundi in playing on amid the COVID-19 crisis. Tajikistan, the landlocked Asian nation with a population of around 9 million people, is yet to record a confirmed case of the disease.

"You know that the championships are stopped in almost all countries because of the coronavirus pandemic," Istiklol manager Vitaliy Levchenko told reporters on Friday, according to Reuters.

"Thank God, there is no coronavirus in Tajikistan and the new football season begins in the country."

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