The Bundesliga could resume from May 9, regional leaders of Germany’s biggest states said on Monday, although games would only take place without spectators to prevent COVID-19 contagion.
Bavaria Minister President Markus Soeder, head of the state which hosts champions Bayern Munich, said it remains “completely unimaginable to have spectators” in the stadiums given the need for social distancing to slow the pandemic.
However, “we could perhaps from May 9 play such a round of ‘ghost games,’” Soeder told Bild, using the German term Geisterspiele for matches played in empty stadiums.
“A weekend with football is much more bearable than a weekend without football,” he said.
Likewise, North Rhine-Westphalia Minister President Armin Laschet, head of the state which is home to Borussia Dortmund, said Germany’s top flight could resume “on condition that there is a thoroughly thought-out concept.”
The German Football League (DFL) has presented “safeguards,” Laschet said, adding that he “can imagine us returning to ‘ghost games.’”
The backing of the leaders of Germany’s two most powerful states could prove to be crucial to the DFL as it mulls a resumption of the Bundesliga.
A decision is imminent, with a videoconference due to be held tomorrow between the DFL and the 36 clubs in the first and second divisions.
While Germany began easing curbs and allowing smaller shops to open from Monday, large public events have been scrapped through to Aug. 31.
In the face of pressure from an industry anxious to get business going again, Laschet, who controls Germany’s biggest state by population, has pushed for more relaxations, but Soeder, who runs the biggest state by area, has taken a more cautious stance, including keeping schools shut a week longer than elsewhere in the nation.
German soccer was halted on March 13 to help reduce the spread of COVID-19. The DFL is desperate for the season to be finished by June 30 to secure an installment of TV money, reportedly about 300 million euros (US$325 million).
It is hoping to get the green light from German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government for the top two tiers to resume next month — possibly on May 9 or May 16.
Earlier on Monday, German Football Association president Fritz Keller said that the Bundesliga could only resume next month behind closed doors, although a nationwide collective of fan groups voiced harsh criticism of the league returning.
“The resumption of football, even in the form of ghost games, is not justifiable,” supporters’ group Fanszenen Deutschlands said in a statement.
The group said that it would be a “sheer mockery of the rest of society,” and especially to those working in Germany’s health service dealing with the pandemic.
“We are very much aware that football without fans lacks its heart,” Keller told Kicker magazine, adding without the TV money “some fans might never be able to attend a game of their club again, because it might soon no longer exist.”
Another issue that needs to be clarified is the testing of players and backroom staff every few days, should the league resume.
A reported 20,000 tests would be needed just for the season to be completed, and a leading German politician said that soccer’s return during the pandemic would send the wrong message.
“It would be wrong to use tens of thousands of tests for ‘ghost games’ when there is not enough testing for nursing homes and teachers,” Karl Lauterbach, a member of the Bundestag and a professor in epidemiology, wrote on Twitter.
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