Frankfurt / Main / Cologne (dpa) – After the case of 1. FC Köln with three people who tested positive for the corona virus, new doubts have arisen about the Bundesliga ghost game plan.
There is primarily debate about the quarantine rule for football professionals. In addition, Cologne midfielder Birger Verstraete was the first player to publicly express concerns and fears. The 26-year-old Belgian considers a quick resumption of the season to be “naive”.
Tim Meyer, head of the task force of the German Football League, admitted at the weekend that the hygiene concept of the DFL was still vulnerable. «If there are too many positive cases, this system can certainly falter. That’s not a question, »said the national team doctor at Sport1. That is why “extreme discipline” is important for everyone involved, even off the field.
Since almost 2,000 people had been tested in the Bundesliga, “some positive cases were expected,” said Meyer: “I don’t want to rule out that there are more.” It is also possible, of course, that players who initially tested negative «subsequently become positive. That is also one of the reasons why we test repeatedly. » When entering team training as planned, only two negatively tested players may take part. According to Meyer, “there is no one-hundred percent system, and that was not a realistic goal”.
At 1. FC Köln, two players and a manager had tested positive. The trio had been sent to quarantine in coordination with the responsible health authority. The rest of the team continues the training in small groups as before. This is also intended in the medical concept of the DFL for the restart of the Bundesliga. «The so-called domestic segregation is only intended for category 1 persons. Not us, but the health authority evaluates who this applies to, »said Cologne team doctor Paul Klein.
Hoping to get approval for the start of the league in May this Wednesday after Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conference with the Prime Ministers this Wednesday, the Bundesliga clubs had started corona tests on all players and coaches on Thursday. “We now see in everyday life that our concept recognizes and reduces risks at an early stage,” emphasized Meyer.
“To be honest, I found it a bit bizarre,” Belgian midfielder Verstraete told VTM when asked why he wasn’t in quarantine. «The physiotherapist is the man who treated me and other players for weeks. And I formed a duo with one of the two players in question in the gym on Thursday, ”said Verstraete in the interview about which“ Het Laatste Nieuws ”reported.
It was therefore “not quite right” that no other member of the Cologne team had come into contact with those affected. Verstraetes girlfriend belongs to the risk group because of a previous heart disease. “I want everyone to be healthy first and then play football again,” he emphasized. On Sunday, the FC sent out a detailed press release with explanations of the process. «After the three positive cases became known to our group, I told an interview about my personal concerns about my girlfriend being infected. I expressed myself incorrectly in some places, so that the translation left a misleading impression that I am sorry for, »Verstraete was quoted as saying.
Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) is open to restarting professional football in May, but at the same time called for strict conditions. “I find the schedule of the DFL plausible and support a restart in May,” said Seehofer, who is also Minister of Sports, the “Bild am Sonntag”: “But for me it is also clear that there can be no privileges for the Bundesliga . »
Basic conditions are, among other things, strict conditions in the case of a positive test: «If there is a corona case in a team or in team support, then the entire club and possibly also the team against which they last played must last for two weeks in quarantine. » According to the newspaper, the interview was conducted in Cologne before the cases became known. A ministry spokesman said on request that Seehofer’s assessment did not change even after it became known.
Some Bundesliga clubs reported negative test results over the weekend. Third-placed RB Leipzig was the first club to announce their return to team training on Tuesday, provided that two previous corona tests were negative for all players and the health authorities agreed. VfL Wolfsburg has long since given the city and the health department the go-ahead, but for reasons of solidarity, Lower Saxony has so far refrained from team training.
Sports scientist Fritz Sörgel spoke in favor of continuing the Bundesliga season for scientific reasons. The pharmacologist sees the opportunity to be able to carry out a study on the coronavirus that has not been possible until now. “If you free yourself from the fact that there is a sporting competition, these ghost games basically meet the criteria for a scientific study,” wrote Sörgel in a contribution for the “Tagesspiegel”.
According to the DFL’s plan, around 1,500 relatively young people would meet regularly in a spatially defined environment. “The question would now be whether there are infections with the Sars-CoV-2 virus in this workplace,” wrote the 69-year-old. This could be used to draw conclusions about other work environments.
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