China won’t broadcast Premier League matches due to league’s support for Ukraine

Chinese companies have confirmed that they will not broadcast the Premier League Matchday 28 matches due to the league’s support for Ukraine. The English competition announced earlier this week that it “wholeheartedly rejects Russia’s actions” and is ready to show solidarity with Ukraine.

In this sense, the captains of the 20 Premier League teams will wear an armband with the identifying colors of Ukraine, as announced by the BBC. In addition, the screens of the stadiums will show the phrase “Football Stands Together” (Football stays together) with the blue and yellow flag of the country.

In this way, the matches Manchester City-Manchester United, Liverpool-West Ham, Watford-Arsenal, Burnley-Chelsea, Tottenham-Everton, Leicester-Leeds, Aston Villa-Southampton, Norwich-Brentford, Newcastle-Brighton and Wolves-Crystal Palace will not be viewable in China.

China, a political ally of Russia, has so far shown a position of neutrality in the conflict. “Russia is a strategic partner, but we are not aligned,” explained the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang Wenbin. “It is not the situation we wanted for the country,” concluded the diplomat. It should be remembered that China is Ukraine’s main trading partner.

It is not the first time that China has decided to cancel a Premier League match. In 2019, the CCTV network did not broadcast Arsenal-Manchester City after the Turkish-German player Mesut Özil made controversial statements about the conflictive Chinese region of Xinjiang. In them, the footballer criticized the silence of the Muslim world in the face of reports of widespread human rights abuses in this region.