So, The German government put off making a decision on whether to restart the Bundesliga last week, but they have now reconvened and Angela Merkel has decided to give the German Football League the go ahead to play behind closed doors. “The decision on the Bundesliga was unanimous,” said the mayor of Hamburg, Peter Tschentscher.
Christian Seifert, MD of the German Football League said in the Guardian, “Today’s decision is good news for the Bundesliga and the 2nd Bundesliga. It is associated with a great responsibility for the clubs and their employees to implement the medical and organisational requirements in a disciplined manner.
“Ghost games are not an ideal solution for anyone. In a crisis threatening the very existence of some clubs, however, it is the only way to keep the leagues in their current form. On this day, I would like to thank the political decision-makers from the federal and state governments for their trust.”
The League is even discussing starting as early as next week, but not having any contact training for a couple of months it is more likely that it will be the weekend after on the 22nd. Frank Baumann, general manager of Werder Bremen said: “It will take time to get used to competitive football again, after a break of two months and restricted training,”
“We have only been able to train in groups of four players at a time up until now [because of regional restrictions, stricter in Bremen than some other areas] and to start before May 22 or 23 would be a real disadvantage for us.”
But it certainly seems that it is definitely going to restart, and very soon too. As they are the first big League to do so in Europe, the rest of the Big Leagues will be following it closely to see what the pitfalls are, if any.
You can be sure though that if it is a success, the Premier League will be not far behind them…
