As the only European professional soccer league still playing, the Belarusian Premier League has now struck multiple overseas deals with broadcasters seeking live sports content during the coronavirus pandemic.

Since the start of its new season earlier in March, the league has extended its reach into ten international territories, according to the Reuters news agency.

Among the broadcast deals reported, TV networks in neighbouring Russia and Ukraine, as well as countries further afield such as Israel and India, have snapped up rights to the league. The Belarus Football Federation (ABFF) has refused to postpone play while the country is taking a more relaxed approach to the Covid-19 outbreak.

"What is clear is that this situation has never happened before in our country's competition. [Previously] it was difficult for us to sell,'' said ABFF spokesperson Alexander Aleinik on the national soccer body's website.

Viktor Samoilenko, the head of Poverkhnost Ukraine, which owns the country’s Sport-1 network, added: “We didn’t expect them to have a decent league over there. We didn’t know this before because we didn’t show the matches.”

The decision to continue playing comes with the Belarusian government deciding not to enforce the Covid-19 social distancing measures seen in other countries. Those regulations elsewhere have created a near-total shutdown of live sports events.

At the time of reporting, there have been 152 reported cases of coronavirus in Belarus, including no reported deaths and 47 patients who have made full recoveries.