Many of the professional sports leagues around the world are starting to return to play over the next two or three weeks. La Liga is set to start June 11. The Bundesliga has already restarted, and Serie A is set for June 20. In Brazil, though, matters are somewhat different. Their president, Jair Bolsonaro, has asked for soccer to return, but the president known as the “Trump of the Tropics” has basically referred to the disease as a “little flu” and done little to encourage the sort of social distancing that might cause the disease to stop spreading. As a result, the only nation with more reported COVID-19 deaths than Brazil is the United States. So if you are wondering when you can resume your online betting on Brazilian soccer, it looks like it will be a little bit longer.
Brasil Serie A COVID-19 Status & Return Date
Bolsanaro goes to public events in Brazil without a mask or gloves, and he gives his followers a hearty embrace. However, the death toll in Brazil keeps growing — and the rate of growth increases with each passing week. Corinthians, one of the top clubs in Brazil, issued a statement last week indicating that soccer authorities and the government should start talking, but also that “it is worrying that Brazil is living a scenario very different from those countries whose leagues have restarted.”
Corinthians’ statement, reported by ESPN.com, continued that “any return will just put back the next forced shutdown, in which the clubs will suffer once again. As a sustainable business, football can only return after an efficient articulation of forces, focused on the well being of the people.”
Also, Brazil is an immense country, bigger than the contiguous United States and more than twice as big as all of the countries in the European Union. It is the fifth-largest country in the world, so containing the COVID-19 pandemic would have been a real challenge, even with a proactive government in place. Brazil’s Serie A has 20 clubs from nine different states. Some of the states are currently overwhelmed by the coronavirus, while others are either still on the way up or have bent the curve.
Flamengo, one of the league’s titans from Rio de Janeiro, has been training. Along with Vasco da Gama, Flamengo has been pushing hard for soccer to be resumed, at least in their state (Rio). The state tournament had not been completed when the pandemic hit and the league was shut down. That could give Flamengo and Vasco da Gama some action ahead of the resumption of league play — and potentially a competitive edge. However, the other Rio teams, Botafogo and Fluminense, are not in a hurry to get back to action.
So for now, Brazilian soccer is just rhetoric back and forth. It will be interesting to see how this changes in the coming days and weeks. Obviously, public health and safety are more important than sports, but sports allow for a great deal of public morale — and drive a great deal of the local economy, not to mention the betting world. So we’ll keep a close eye on this titan of South American soccer.
