Wednesday
Copenhagen’s Michael Santos is banned for three games by UEFA after he clashed with a police officer while celebrating a goal in February’s 3-1 win away to Celtic in the Europa League.
The SPFL calls an end to the season for the three divisions below the Premiership, with Dundee United, Raith Rovers and Cove Rangers declared winners of the Championship, League 1 and League 2. Partick Thistle and
a press conference in Bujumbura the real reason for the suspension was that some stadia might be needed for rallies leading up to presidential elections on May 20.
The federation subsequently denied such suggestions and FFB administrator Yussuf Mossi explained: “For the league situation, coronavirus is the reason. We are working closely with FIFA and CAF to see what to do. We stopped because we have 10 cases. So we stopped and followed the regulations of FIFA and CAF.”
But not everyone agrees and Pierre Abega, who runs the Intwari football academy in Bujumbura, says: “It’s not the real reason. There are different views. Some people say it may be a directive from FIFA directed at Burundi to stop the competition. For others it was a reason not to clash with the election rallies.”
Elections in Burundi are typically tense and 1,000 people died after the last poll in 2015, when the CNDD-FDD were re-elected and it was proposed that Pierre Nkurunziza run for a third term. This was considered unconstitutional and led to a military coup, which was narrowly defeated but led to aid being suspended. With Evariste Ndayishimiye now running as CNDD-FDD’s presidential candidate, Nkurunziza will be free once again to indulge his great passion for football. A would-be striker, Nkurunziza arranges games for his own team, Aleluya, and in the past has jailed opposition coaches after disagreements over games!
The game in Burundi received a rare boost in 2018 when ex-England under21 Saido Berahino, who now plays for Zulte Waregem in Belgium, switched his international allegiance and helped Burundi to the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time in 2019. That exposure prompted scouts and agents to look more closely at the domestic league in a country where the tense political situation had proved a deterrent.
“Now people know Burundi because of Berahino,” says Mutuma. “A lot of scouts came over to watch the games. There are a lot of good players but they don’t have the opportunities.”
One such player is 19-year-old winger Danny Ndikumana, who plays for Atletico Olympic. With the league still playing he found himself in an unprecedented shop window. Now that has closed, Burundian domestic football may never again generate so much interest.