Provincial associations and Ecuadorian soccer clubs reject the provision of the national COE to play Ecuador vs. Brazil without public

The National Congress of the Ecuadorian Football Federation (FEF) presented its unanimous rejection to the provision issued by the National Emergency Operations Committee (COE) to restrict the entry of fans to the match Ecuador vs. Brazil this Thursday, for date 15 of the World Cup qualifying round.

The FEF published a letter with the support of 21 associations and the 26 clubs series A and B of Ecuadorian soccer.

In the document it is emphasized that the Ecuadorian soccer “recognizes the circumstances”, “the effects and consequences” of the presence of COVID-19 in the country, but also that as “actors of the national sport (…) we have respected and actively participated” in combating the pandemic.

With these considerations, we express our rejection of the resolution issued”, by the COE on January 24, because this”not consistent nor sufficient motivation in relation to the permissiveness of higher capacities that exist at the moment, even for closed places where this same match will be watched, ”says the communication.

Among other points, the signatories point out that “There is no concrete information regarding contagion outbreaks up to 14 days later derived from matches of the national team”.

The statement indicates that, with the measure of the national COE, “Ecuador becomes the only country in America that will play without an audience, despite being one of the countries with one of the highest vaccination rates.”

Finally, the Ecuadorian soccer associations and clubs ask the national and metropolitan COE of Quito to “review the decision and allow the attendance of the 50% capacity “previously authorized” by the COE for massive public events, which in the case of the Rodrigo Paz stadium is set at 20,320 people. (D)