The National Football League has time on its side as the sports world prepares to emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic and will use some it to observe German soccer's Bundesliga as a potential blueprint on how to deal with the outbreak.
Germany's plans to restart competitive soccer on May 16 have suffered an early setback after the entire team of second tier Dynamo Dresden were placed in a two-week quarantine following two positive coronavirus tests.
The Bundesliga 2 club announced on its website that tests taken on Friday had revealed two new positive cases and local health authorities had ordered the team into quarantine.
With the Bundesliga’s restart just over a week away, it’ll be fascinating to see the differing levels of fitness on display when, for example, Borussia Dortmund hosts Schalke in the Revierderby on Saturday, May 16. After over two months off, it’s only natural that some players will have taken better care of themselves, while others might need an extra week or two to last more than 60 minutes.
The Bundesliga will be the first major European league to resume play starting Saturday, May 16. Fans of the league are nothing less than exhilarated to see its return. For those unfamiliar with the league or even the teams, don’t fear.
For a little background, the title chase is being closely contested between five clubs. If you’re unsure who to root for, this Americanized list of the Bundesliga’s top five teams will surely help.
The Bundesliga season will restart on May 16 after a suspension of more than two months, the German Football League (DFL) said on Thursday, becoming the first European league to resume amid the coronavirus epidemic.
The DFL said the season would restart under the terms of a strict health protocol that bans fans from the stadium, with six games on Saturday, including the high-profile Ruhr valley derby between Borussia Dortmund and Schalke 04.
BERLIN — Germany's Bundesliga is set to be given the green light for a restart, probably from May 15, as part of measures to further ease the country's coronavirus regulations, two people familiar with the preparations told Reuters.
The Bundesliga would be the first of the five major European domestic soccer leagues to resume play after a stoppage which has seen almost all football put on hold around the world since mid-March.
If the Bundesliga ever returns, Hertha Berlin’s Salomon Kalou will have to wait even longer after the club suspended him for violating strict social distancing guidelines on Monday.
The Ivory Coast forward posted a Facebook livestream video showing him breaking numerous rules, including shaking hands, fist bumping teammates, bursting into a room while some one was apparently being tested and, overall, just being a complete moron.
Ten people have tested positive for coronavirus in more than 1,700 tests carried out by Germany's professional soccer league (DFL) at its 36 clubs ahead a planned resumption of full training, it said on Monday.
The DFL, which tested players and coaching staff at the Bundesliga and 2.Bundesliga teams, did not identify those who had tested positive or their clubs and said the cases had been reported to health authorities.
No decade in the Bundesliga’s 57-year history has been as thoroughly dominated by one club as Bayern Munich’s reign over the last 10 years. Apart from Borussia Dortmund’s back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012, the rest of the 2010s were steamrolled by Bayern.
Over this period, the club routinely landed players in the Bundesliga's top 10 scorers each season. The notable examples include Arjen Robben, Thomas Müller, Mario Gómez, Mario Mandžukić and Robert Lewandowski.
The resumption of training in Germany's Bundesliga proved to be bad news for United States men's national team goalkeeper Zack Steffen, who injured a knee not long after getting back on the field.
Steffen, who plays for Fortuna Dusseldorf, was training in a small group, as was permitted, when he came away with an "inner ligament injury," according to the team. The 25-year-old is expected to miss four to six weeks of action.