Despite football being halted across the globe by the coronavirus pandemic with all major leagues and competitions suspended, the Bundesliga is now eager to return to action with plans to play spectator-free games in May.
\nGermany has led the way in its approach to combating the coronavirus pandemic. The country\u2019s intense programme of consistent testing from early on has resulted in far fewer deaths than the worst-affected countries.
\nThe German Football League (DFL), responsible for operating the Bundesliga and the second division, is determined to finish the current season. Its 36 professional clubs met yesterday to discuss a restart of the season next month.
\nHowever, Germany\u2019s football authorities still face some huge questions before they get the green light to resume football in the country behind closed doors.
\n\u201cIf we start on 9 May, we are ready. If it is later, we will be ready again,\u201d DFL chief executive Christian Seifert said yesterday.
\n\u201cFor us, what is decisive is what the politicians will decide. It is not for us to decide when.
\n\u201cGames without spectators are not what we want, but at the moment it is the only thing that seems feasible.\u201d
\nSo, what challenges do they face and how are they planning to combat them?
\nGerman politics has recently decided that large events with crowds will be banned at least until 24 October. That rules out the Bundesliga being played in front of spectators until the scheduled start of next season.
\nThe only way to work around regulations is to stage spectator-free games, with only players, coaching staff, medics, referees, ball boys and ball girls, ground staff, technicians, safety officers, and production staff for television and VAR being present inside the stadiums. League officials estimate that up to 300 people are needed per match.
\nIn Germany, the 16 federal states determine the maximum number of people allowed for public gatherings and a decision about that number will be made by the end of April.
\nThe governments could put a stop to any plans from the DFL, but they are aware of the economic struggles of professional football and are expected to grant the wish of the clubs.
\n\u201cA weekend with football is much more bearable than a weekend without football. That\u2019s why I could picture to have matches behind closed doors\u201d, state premier of Bavaria, Markus Soder, said at a recent online talk show hosted by German newspaper Bild.
\nHe and Armin Laschet, state premier of North Rhine-Westphalia, have said they think it\u2019s conceivable the Bundesliga would restart as soon as 9 May.
\nSoder and Laschet rushed ahead with their statements, knowing the federal government and the 16 state governments meet on 30 April, with the likely outcome that football matches are allowed to be staged in the following months.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Despite football being halted across the globe by the coronavirus pandemic with all major leagues and competitions suspended, the Bundesliga is now eager to return to action with plans to play spectator-free games in May. Germany has led the way in its approach to combating the coronavirus pandemic. The country\u2019s intense programme of consistent testing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":237081,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76,26],"tags":[688],"class_list":["post-237042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-front-pix","tag-front-pix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=237042"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237042\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/237081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=237042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=237042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetidenewsonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=237042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}