Large events are prohibited until August 31. What does the announcement of the federal government in the context of the Corona crisis mean for football now? It is still about a lot of money.
The spook is far from over, the “ghost games” remain a vague hope: There is still a big question mark behind the restart of the season in professional football, the positive signal from politics failed to materialize on Wednesday. Contrary to the expectations of the clubs, Chancellor Angela Merkel and the Prime Ministers of the federal states did not yet agree in their deliberations to clear the way for closed games in spite of the Corona pandemic from May.
The 36 professional clubs must therefore continue to fear for their existence. A decision will not be made until the Chancellor’s next conference with the country heads on April 30. Until then, the game will not be restarted in any way. “The Bundesliga was not an issue. It will be an issue in the next step. We will then discuss whether ghost games are possible,” said Bavaria’s Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU). At their next virtual crisis meeting on April 23, the clubs will have to plan the start again without specific political guidelines.
Since the public restrictions have been extended until May 3, the ball could roll again in the best case from May 8 (Friday). For some days now clubs have been training in small groups to prepare for “Day X”. Since professional football expected that there would be no more games with an audience this year, it was prepared to ban major events until August 31. The seasons of the Bundesliga and the 2nd league have been interrupted since mid-March. There are still nine game days left.
The DFL is already working on logistics
Most recently, there was speculation about the number of 239 people who should be allowed to play a “ghost game”. In addition, professional football requires around 20,000 corona tests for the outstanding matches. In this context, the German Football League (DFL) assumes a nationwide test capacity of at least 550,000 per week. The reasoning is clear: Given a capacity of several million over several weeks, 20,000 tests for professional football are acceptable during this period.
Before the Chancellor’s consultations with the Prime Ministers, the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina had recommended that “sporting events gradually” be made possible again. However, the experts did not become concrete. The loosening should be checked “depending on the possible spatial distance and the contact intensity of those involved”.
The DFL has been working on the logistics for the staging of games in camera for weeks. “We will be ready,” promised DFL boss Christian Seifert last, but he made it clear: “It must not give the impression that football ignores reality in its self-centeredness.”
Negative effects must be excluded
Professional football also wants to avoid this impression at its meeting next week. Nevertheless, it is primarily about the 770 million euros that could be lost if the season ended. According to the kicker, 13 of the 36 clubs face bankruptcy if the ball still doesn’t roll in the coming weeks.
One of the deciding factors is how football can guarantee that there are no risks of infection from running the games and that there will be no negative effect on the general public. The scenario for a restart is currently being developed by the DFL task force under the direction of national team doctor Tim Meyer.
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