Tonight, the Verdes Football Club is in Santo Domingo, the Capital City of the Dominican Republic, where they are supposed to participate in the first round of the Scotiabank League Tournament.
But, they are unable to do so because about one-third of Team Belize's delegation has tested positive for the coronavirus. Verdes was supposed to play its first game against the Haitian Football Club, Arcahaie FC, which was scheduled for 6 p.m. tonight.
And now, they have a difficult decision to make. They can either come home early and withdraw from the tournament due to force majeure. Or, the members of the team who tested positive can quarantine for 10 days and still play the match.
The problem is that if they decide to stay and the team is still inundated with positive cases, because of the coronavirus, they will then forfeit and face serious financial penalties.
This evening, we got a chance to speak via telephone with Sergio Chuc, the President of the Football Federation of Belize, and he shared a few details about the Belizean football club's coronavirus worries. Here's what he told us:
Sergio Chuc - President, FFB "It seems that last week Friday when they were about to fly out to Santo Domingo where the game was going to play, even though it is a team of Haiti, the air field was not up to condition so they had to play in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. When they flew out, they had to do a COVID test and 2 of the players tested positive and could not fly, another 2 of the players tested positive while transiting through Panama, so 2 players were held back in Panama to do a mandatory 14 day quarantine and the rest of the club flew in, half flew in through Panama, the next half through Miami. So the majority of the club was there and they were ready to play, however yesterday, they had do another test, 44 hours the regulation said before the game and it seems that out of the delegation that was actually in Santo Domingo, 4 of the players tested positive and 4 of the officials tested positive. So today, CONCACAF got together and the latest news I have received from the director of competition for CONCACAF is that the game has been put on hold. Why I say on hold is because Verdes needs to decide if they will do the mandatory quarantine that CONCACAF medical is suggesting, which is a 10 day and then play the game or officially withdraw because of the COVID situation and go home. If they withdraw at this point because of COVID and come home, then there will be no penalties according to CONCACAF, however if they decide to stay in Santo Domingo and come back and play the game, 10 days and still with positive players, then the game will be a forfeit and then there will be some steep penalties, financial penalties associated with it. So, it's a decision that the Verdes football club has to do now."
Chuc explained to us that the 6 top teams of this tournament would go on to qualify for the Scotiabank Champion's League Tournament, which is the coveted prize for the club competition in the region.
