China pulls Premier League TV coverage over shows of solidarity with Ukraine

Premier League matches will be blocked by Chinese broadcasters this weekend because of planned displays of solidarity with Ukraine.

Under the banner “Football Stands Together”, club captains will wear armbands in the colours of Ukraine this weekend and a “moment of reflection and solidarity” will take place before kick-off.

The league’s plans of solidarity are set to feature in international broadcast feeds of Premier League fixtures this weekend and the league’s Chinese broadcast partner, IQIYI Sports, has made it clear to the league that this weekends matches will not be broadcast in the country as a result.

That means Premier League fans in China will have to give up the broadcasts of this weekends fixtures.

Media outlets in Britain revealed that the Chinese government will prevent the broadcast of all matches in order to block images of the demonstrations in support of Ukraine, who are currently defending themselves after an unprovoked attack on their country by Russian forces.

“We wholeheartedly reject Russia’s actions and will show solidarity with Ukraine.

“We call for peace and our thoughts are with all those who have been impacted,”

Premier League Spokesperson.

All of the elite clubs across the league have planned to participate in these gestures of solidarity with the attacked country by having the players wear special armbands, yellow and blue, the colours of Ukraine.

The giant screens around the grounds will all broadcast the message “Football stands together“.

The supporters who attend the stadiums will be allowed to accompany the teams, the staff, the referees and their assistants during this process.

The Premier League, however, did not wish to comment on this boycott of fixtures by the Chinese government.

Bearing in mind this is not the first occasion that Chinese broadcasters have blocked the Premier League.

In 2019, a match involving Arsenal was axed from the schedules after the club’s then captain, Mesut Ozil, criticised the Chinese government’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims.

And of course in 2020 Bloomberg also reported that the state terrestrial broadcaster, CCTV, had demoted Premier League matches to less popular channels after the UK government’s decision to ban the Chinese company Huawei from its 5G network.

CCTV is understood not to have renewed a terrestrial deal with the Premier League in the current period.

What is interesting, is that previous Chinese censorship cases have in most cases been about players, executives, or leagues commenting on China, and not about events in Europe where China is not directly involved.

In fact, China’s representatives chose not to vote against the UN resolution recently that condemned Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine.

They, along with 33 other countries, abstained; only Russia and four other countries voted against the resolution.

China has close links to Russia, and an intelligence report revealed earlier this week suggested that Chinese officials may have asked the Russians to postpone the Ukraine invasion until the conclusion of the Beijing Olympics fearing a global backlash.

So this is something they have weighed in on on some levels. But it is still not a conflict directly involving them.

And that makes it notable to see Chinese state TV invoking censorship against the Premier League over expressions of support for Ukraine against Russia.

It also brings up questions of if they willll do the same around the many other leagues (including MLS) that have expressed or will express support for Ukraine.

Whatever the outcome of this weekend it changes nothing. The world is in shock and will continue and rightly so, to show overwhelming support for the Ukrainian people who are still suffering at the hand’s of the Russian forces.