Bundesliga allowed to resume play in 2nd half of May
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The Bundesliga, which was suspended in March with nine rounds remaining due to the coronavirus pandemic, received permission from the German government on Wednesday to resume its season in the second half of May.
It will become the first major soccer league to return after the coronavirus forced non-essential businesses to shutter across Europe and the world.
Matches will be played without fans and behind closed doors, and clubs must continue to follow strict hygiene protocol.
No more than 322 people will be allowed inside each stadium, according to German outlet DW, and players will be required to stay 1.5 meters from one another in the dressing room.
The earliest the Bundesliga can return is May 15, according to ESPN’s Stephan Uersfeld. A meeting will take place Thursday between German soccer officials to determine a concrete date.
Clubs have been training for nearly a month at their facilities despite the ongoing health crisis.
However, there are signs the curve is flattening in Germany. The daily number of infections has dropped below 1,000, leading Chancellor Angela Merkel to announce Wednesday that the country has “reached the goal of slowing down the spread of the virus.”
Soccer officials initially hoped to resume play May 9, only for the government to delay its decision on easing restrictions.
Players in the top two tiers of German soccer underwent a first round of testing this week, with 10 positive results emerging from a total of 1,724 samples.
FC Koln announced last week that three of their players tested positive for COVID-19. The club resumed training as normal on Monday.
Christian Seifert, the Bundesliga’s chief executive, said in March that 56,000 jobs depended on the league. On Wednesday, he estimated that around 50% of teams in the second division would’ve faced the threat of bankruptcy if the season was canceled, according to The New York Times’ Tariq Panja. He also feared a loss of €300 million in television revenue.
“Games without fans are not an ideal solution. But for some clubs, it’s the only option for surviving this crisis and keeping the league in its current form,” Seifert said in a statement.
Borussia Monchengladbach already made plans to mimic the atmosphere of regular Bundesliga matches, ordering cardboard cutouts of their fans to fill the empty seats.
