FOOTBALL: Bundesliga will resume Next Weekend in Germany

On May 16 the Bundesliga will resume behind closed doors, they will be the first European league to restart after the novel coronavirus shutdown.

  Champions Bayern Munich, are four points clear at the top of the table, they will travel to Union Berlin on Sunday.  

On the day of relaunch the derby between Schalke and Borussia Dortmund will be one of the games .

With the final weekend of the season rescheduled for 27-28 June. Most teams have nine games to play.

The German Football Association (DFB) revealed that the season would restart under strict health protocols as fans are banned from the stadium and players need to have Covid-19 testing.

Approximately 300 individuals, including staff, players, and officials, will be in or around the stadiums during the match.

The league was suspended after March 13 and clubs returned to training in mid-April, but players worked together in groups.

Christian Seifert, chief executive of the German Football League, revealed how crucial it is to resume play, despite having empty stands and other restrictions in place.

Other Regulations:

• Referees will also be subject to medical and hygiene regulations, as well as players and coaching staff, .
• No clarification on the issue of matches being available free-to-air in Germany, but talks are now under way with the broadcasters.
• In the top two divisions following the first series of covid-19 tests, there were 10 positive results from clubs and two in the second series.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel eased on some restrictions,  on Wednesday and allowed shops to reopen after there were less than 7,000 deaths due to covid-19.

  Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin is confident that Germany will provide a shining example to the world of football on how to return to action.  This is a huge and positive step to bringing optimism back to people’s lives. It is the result of constructive dialogue and careful planning between the politicians and football authorities.  

Seifert said: “The matches will be feeling different. After the first matchday, we believe we will all know why we prefer games with fans after this. But that is the framework we have to operate in and I expect the best possible sport within this framework.”

The executive committee of the World Players Association, that represents the 85,000 players and athletes across world who play sports, will be meeting to discuss medical protocols in an effort to return to the various games.

It was reported that all proposals need to be calmly and rigorously assessed by the relevant experts, and there needs to be a clear commitment that the health of players and their safety is not negotiable.

The ‘Community aspect’ Was lost

Defender Neven Subotic has been critical of how the situation has been handled by the footballing authorities.

Subotic told BBC’s World Football program that it is a precarious situation for everyone that is involved. He believes it will be impossible to come out of the league with positive remarks, it will just be a lot of risk management as persons try to get to a finished season with a few casualties. There will be no games with fans and for him that is what makes it special.

Playing football is fun and is challenging but what makes it exceptional is the community aspect of it. That is gone and he doesn’t want to pretend like it is not a huge thing. It is a huge thing and it is what makes it special.

Therefore what he will definitely enjoy is the first game with fans back inside the stadium. He looks forward to that and that is his end goal.

The Analysis

John Bennett of BBC World Service Sport’s thinks It’s going to look, sound and feel very different but there is something very exciting about finally having a date for the resumption of one of the best leagues in world football.

The German Football League (DFL) head Christian Seifert cautioned them though at his press conference, he reinforced the fact that this is a very fragile situation, as they’re playing under probation and added that they almost will need to prove that their health and safety concepts will work on every match day in the future.

A local derby between fierce rivals Schalke and Borussia Dortmund is a great way to start at the moment, but it will also show how much the fans will be missed at the big games and how upset some of the supporters and groups in Germany will be about the Bundesliga managing to continue without them being there.

The eyes of the Premier League, La Liga and Serie A, will be carefully watching on these early games, as if Germany can make it work, it could be possible for Europe’s other major leagues to have a stronger chance as well.