Peru President Declares National Holiday for World Cup Qualifier

On Tuesday October 10, the President of Peru, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, declared a national holiday and allowed public sector employees to leave work at 16:00 to support their soccer team in the World Cup qualifying match against Colombia.

The President tweeted: “Our team plays today and we want to encourage our men. I declare half a day of work so we can all chant Arriba Peru!” as well as: “Today all of Peru is with the team. Workers from the public sector will be able to support our guys from 4 p.m. Arriba Peru!”

Following the match, video footage emerged of players on both sides apparently conspiring to fix their qualifier to end in a draw, which it did (1-1). Investigations continue into the alleged match fixing.