First Division players resume practices on Sunday after weeks-long hiatus
Practices resumed on Sunday morning under revised Covid-19 health and safety regulations
Under revised regulations, 20 players of the same team are allowed to practice on the field at any given time
First Division clubs resumed practices on Sunday morning following a weeks-long hiatus, under revised Covid-19 health and safety regulations devised by the Football Association of Maldives (FAM) and the Health Protection Agency (HPA).
While players resumed practices on Sunday morning, the Director General of Public Health gave the greenlight for First Division clubs to do so on in a letter addressed to FAM on Thursday.
In her letter, the Director General of Public Health urged caution in order to maintain the safety and security of football officials and players from the fatal infection, as daily infections have been on the rise in the Greater Malé Region for weeks.
As such, FAM communicated to clubs that they need to strictly adhere to safety guidelines in place, to help curb the spread of the disease, before practices were resumed on Sunday. President of FAM Bassam Adeel Jaleel confirmed the news in a tweet on Friday, and extended thanks to President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, Minister of Health Ahmed Naseem, Minister of Sports Ahmed Mahloof and HPA on to mark the occasion, considered a huge win for the football community left devastated after the DDPL's suspension.
Under the revised regulations, only one team is allowed to conduct practices on a field at a time. 20 players are allowed to train at a time, with 10 players stationed on each half of the field.
While practices have resumed for First Division clubs, no date has yet been decided for when play will resume in the Dhiraagu Dhivehi Premier League. The DDPL was brought to an abrupt halt on February 3, due to new safety precautions set forth by the public health authorities against spiraling Covid-19 cases.
Practices for First Division teams were restarted on Sunday after Covid-19 vaccinations were conducted for all players, management staff and technical officials involved with the DDPL. While play was discontinued abruptly for the DDPL early in February, no Covid-19 clusters have been identified within the football community in relation to DDPL matches. At the time of the league's suspension, a total of 34 matches had been played in the Dhiraagu Dhivehi Premier League.
