Bundesliga Set To Come Out Of Lockdown As Soccer Looks For Green Light

The Bundesliga could be the first of Europe’s top-flight soccer leagues to come out of an enforced COVID-19 hibernation.

Monday saw two of the country’s top leaders give their backing to a return to action—although all fixtures would be played behind closed doors, with no fans allowed in the stadium, known as geister-spiele or ghost games.

A compromise that could last until the spring of 2021, as hinted by Deutsche Fußball Liga (DFL) CEO, Christian Seifert last month.

“If we can play games, it is to be expected that they will be without fans for some time. Maybe even into the new season or until the end of the year.” the league boss commented last month.

A sentiment shared by Deutschen Fußball-Bundes (German FA) cheif, Fritz Keller.

“We are very much aware that football without fans lacks its heart, from discussions and feedback from fan organizations, I know how much it hurts fans that they cannot support their clubs in the stadium.” admitted Keller.

However, the return to action edged closer on Monday evening as Markus Söder, the Bavarian Minister-President and Armin Laschet, the Minister President of Nordrhein-Westfalen, added their support to a league restart.

“The prerequisite is that there is a well thought-out concept. What the DFL has presented these past few days shows that protective measures are in place. I could imagine that we can go back to football under ghost games.” Laschet told German newspaper Bild.

Meanwhile counterpart Söder went as far as mentioning a date for a potential kickoff.

“It is conceivable that we might be able to play such a ghost round at the earliest from May 9. A weekend with football is much more bearable than a weekend without football. ” the Nordrhein-Westfalen politician said in the same interview.

News comes ahead of the April 23 meeting of the DFL, where league leaders will sit down with state and federal government heads to try and plan a route back to some sort of emerging normality, with the end of April cited as decision day.

The DFL reportedly hopes to get the go-ahead from the federal government for the top-two tiers of soccer to resume early next month, with the AFP hinting either May 9 or 16 as suitable dates.

Bundesliga clubs have been back in training since April 6, albeit in small groups and not in the sessions seen before the pandemic outbreak.

Champions Bayern Munich were the first to return to some sort of normality, as were Borussia Mönchengladbach and Wolfsburg.

Relegation threatened Paderborn also worked in groups of two, with their head coach, Steffen Baumgart declaring it was important for his and all players to “get the ball on their feet again”.

Should the Bundesliga return as early as May 9 or 16, it would ensure viewing figures across the globe. England’s Premier League is suspended until it is ‘safe to resume play’, while both Italy’s Serie A and Spain’s La Liga also look some months from returning.

However, not all of the league’s players seem overly happy with such a quick return. Bayern Munich’s Dutch teenage sensation Joshua Zirkzee told VTBL that he sees the proposed date as too soon.

“I think May 9 is too early. I think they will try to finish the season as soon as possible. Although that will happen without fans. I have never experienced these ghost games myself, other guys from the team have, and they say it’s really weird.” Zirkzee said.

“Opinions differ, of course and we all want to play football as soon as possible, to finish the season—but the fact that you have to play without fans is really a sore point for many players.” he ended with.

League CEO, Seifert knows the return to play will be under strict conditions and require immense trust.

“Politicians trust us, and we the league—and the players in particular—must now be role models. This proposed return has a lot to do with hygiene measures and the exemplary handling of social contact.

“It is important to be disciplined, not only for the clubs but also for the fans watching on TV. ” Seifert commented.

But the fact local states are even contemplating allowing ghost games to take place led to the CEO saying:

“These are positive signals that have been sent out. This gives both the Bundesliga and 2.Bundesliga an important perspective. “