Bundesliga to return on May 15 shading some hopes on Premier League resumption

Summary

• Teams to train in small groups, maintain social distancing
• Matches to be played in empty stadiums
• Teams discuss on free to air channels for fans

On Wednesday, the German government will announce several initiatives to ease the country’s emergency restrictions. High on the agenda is the possible restart of professional football.

Among other Bundesliga teams, Bayern Munich returned to training for the first time since the campaign was halted by the coronavirus pandemic.

The German champions trained in small groups of a maximum five players keeping in mind the social distancing requirement as a means of keeping Covid-19 at bay. Training began with a warm-up routine, followed by running and shooting drills and technical training with no members of the public present.

Bundesliga, Germany's top flight had been suspended since 13 March.

"It was certainly a very unusual feeling holding a training session in small groups today, but it was also nice to see the boys in person again," said Bayern captain Manuel Neuer.

For the past two weeks Bayern, who were top of the league at the time of the season being stopped, four points clear of Borussia Dortmund players and staff had taken part in "cyber training".

    German Bundesliga side Shalke 04 in training
(Photo Courtesy)

Matches to be played in empty stadiums

A clear condition of the Bundesliga – as for elite football in most of Europe’s major leagues – returning to action will be that stadiums are empty of fans, in order to prevent possible mass infection and maintain social distancing practices that have helped combat the spread of the virus.

Teams discuss on free to air channels for fans

The German clubs are increasingly confident season will resume within a fortnight but need subscription channels to make matches available to all fans across available platforms.

This, they say, holds the key to what would be football’s most significant return to normality since the coronavirus shutdown.

Risks of mass congregations

Making matches widely available on television would persuade public health authorities that supporters will not gather in large groups at homes where there is a Sky or DAZN subscriber, in order to watch. Such gatherings would be considered a grave risk to public health.

The influential German fans organisation Unsere Kurve issued a statement on Tuesday “asking TV companies and governing bodies to find compromises to allow free-to-air showing of matches,” to compensate for the ban on stadium access.

The German subscription broadcasters are understood to be willing, in these exceptional circumstances, to make a significant number of matches freely available to non-subscribers.

The 2020-21 season, which most European leagues hope will begin in September, is very likely to start with behind-closed-doors fixtures, if and where it is allowed to start.

Broadcasters who rely on subscriptions are reluctant to commit to any binding principle that no crowds automatically means more free-to-air games.

The advanced plans for a Bundesliga restart, and the role of pay-TV broadcasters in contributing to ‘safe’ matches, are meanwhile being studied closely elsewhere.