In the German Bundesliga, the ball could roll again on May 15, but at the latest in two and a half weeks. If Chancellor Angela Merkel supports the project, regular Bundesliga operations with ghost games would soon start again.
Despite the latest scandal video by the immediately suspended Hertha professional Salomon Kalou, continuing concerns of the critics and another corona case with the second division club FC Erzgebirge Aue, the signs are not bad. In addition to the country heads and the conference of sports ministers, federal interior minister Horst Seehofer and federal health minister Jens Spahn have no doubts about the improved hygiene concept of the German Football League.
Spahn: “Concept makes sense”
“The basic concept makes sense and can also serve as a model for other professional sports areas,” Spahn emphasized on Tuesday morning on Deutschlandfunk. Seehofer had previously described the DFL plans for a resumption of the game operation, which had been suspended since the middle of March due to the coronavirus pandemic, as “plausible”. In addition, the declining numbers of transmitted new infections with the SARS-CoV-2 pathogen, which the Robert Koch Institute announced on Tuesday, give reason for cautious optimism.
The DFL has already scheduled a general meeting for Thursday. At the video conference, the results of the political summit will be discussed with the 36 professional clubs, the first of which have already started unrestricted team training.
The prime ministers seem to be largely in agreement. According to dpa information, the video of Kalou still deleted on Monday is unlikely to have any influence on the fundamental decision regarding the resumption of play in the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga. The concept of the DFL had “found cross-party approval” on Monday, according to North Rhine-Westphalia’s Prime Minister Armin Laschet. It will also be presented to the Bundestag Sports Committee on Wednesday.
If the season continues to be longed for by the clubs, the billion-dollar industry must show whether it really understood the signs of the times. The concept would then have to be “lived”, Spahn warned with regard to the incidents at Hertha BSC. He hoped “that everyone now understood that this was about something”.
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Kalou at the center of criticism
Hertha striker Kalou published a video on Facebook on Monday, which shows, among other things, how a sample of a corona test is taken from his teammate Jordan Torunarigha. In addition, the 34-year-old had started conversations in the changing room with team-mate Vedad Ibisevic, among others. During the video sequence, Kalou repeatedly shook hands with fellow players or club employees and thus violated the guidelines set by the DFL in their concept.
Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder reacted with lack of understanding. “Since the league makes excellent concepts, and then there are single players, as you can read now, who are very, very, very unhappy,” said the CSU boss on Tuesday. This brings “the whole concept into disrepute”.
According to Dagmar Freitag, chairman of the sports committee in the Bundestag, the club also failed. “In my opinion, it is simply a scandal that nobody intervenes when the simplest rules are disregarded. For me, this naturally raises questions about enforcement, ”said the Rheinische Post on Friday. “Sanctions on the part of the DFL are not possible.”
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Kalou: “Was a mistake”
Kalou was at least insightful. “It was a big mistake,” the Ivorian admitted in an interview at Sport1. “I want to sincerely apologize at this point. The people who know me know that I respect everyone and didn’t want to get anyone in trouble. ”
Nevertheless, the incident, which was sharply criticized by the DFL and severely punished by the Berliners, serves as the final proof of how fragile the concept created by the league and approved by politicians is.
Hesse’s interior minister Peter Beuth is therefore particularly responsible for the clubs. “The video shows that the clubs urgently need to approach their professional players,” said the dpa CDU politician. He described the hygiene concept of the DFL as “well thought out and conclusive”. Taking into account the requirements, gaming operations could resume in May.
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DFL boss calls for personal responsibility
It would be a parole release. Christian Seifert also knows this, which is why the DFL boss recently explicitly called for the personal responsibility of the professionals to implement the concept. However, this is very different in the industry.
In the currently highly sensitive discussion about a special role of professional football in the corona crisis, this further violation can hardly afford. Should this happen, Christian Lindner, leader of the FDP, demands severe punishments. “This is a warning shot for everyone that everyone has to take responsibility. Such individual misconduct must therefore be punished so severely that it hurts even soccer millionaires, ”said Lindner. At the same time, he emphasized: “Nevertheless, no damage to the league as a whole may arise from this.”
(APA)
Entry picture: Imago
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