FC Schalke 04 sees its existence threatened in the face of the Corona crisis. The district club could now play a decisive role in the resumption of play.
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Clemens Tönnies, head of Schalke 04’s supervisory board, could help his meat company to resume playing in the Bundesliga. Corona rapid tests could be evaluated there, since the company has a corresponding laboratory, the Westfalen-Blatt reported on Saturday. A spokesman for the company also confirmed to the newspaper that there had already been contact with the German Football League (DFL).
First considerations with the DFL
“We have an accredited laboratory where pigs’ blood is tested for antibodies every day in modern analytical robots,” said a company spokesman: “This laboratory capacity could also be used temporarily for mass antibody tests on human blood.” With the DFL, there were “initial considerations on the use of whether an application would make sense”.
Due to the corona pandemic, game play is currently suspended in all leagues. The only way to end the season is ghost games, as major events are prohibited until August 31. However, if the politicians give the green light for this and operation is resumed, players, coaches and officials would have to be tested at regular intervals. This would take numerous tests, the Tönnies laboratory could be useful in evaluating them.
“In the event that there is a capacity bottleneck in medical specialist laboratories, we have offered that authorities or medical specialist laboratories can use our capacities, because if the working shifts in our laboratory are expanded accordingly, several thousand samples per day could be tested for antibodies”, said the company spokesman: “Basically, the Tönnies laboratory in Rheda-Wiedenbrück is open for further use.”
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