May 4 – The German Bundesliga’s move to get its season back on track took a knock after three FC Koln players tested positive for the coronavirus, but Germany’s minister for the interior Horst Seehofer has backed the league’s return this month.
The club said that the three players were quarantined, but that training was to proceed.
In a statement, FC Koln said they “had the entire team and coaching staff, along with the backroom staff, tested on Thursday for Covid-19. Three people tested positive, all are symptom free.”
“FC Köln’s training can continue as planned, according to the hygiene and infection control measures that have been in place since 6 April in group training. The prerequisite for this is that the relevant group of people are tested further, as stated for in the medical concept of the ‘Taskforce Sports Medicine/Special Game Operation’ from the DFL.”
The rest of Europe has been a keen observer of Germany’s endeavour to get the Bundesliga up and running in May. On Wednesday, the federal government and states will decide if German elite football can return behind closed doors.
The sports ministers of the 16 German states have also approved the league’s plans and Seehofer, the country’s minister for the interior, has given his blessing for a resumption of play. “I find the schedule proposed by the German league plausible and I support the restart in May,” Seehofer told German tabloid Bild.
“If there is a case of coronavirus in a team or its management, the club as a whole, and possibly also the team against which it last played, must go into quarantine for two weeks,” said Seehofer. “There will continue therefore to be risks for the schedule of matches and for the standings.”
Germany has registered 165,664 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 6,866 deaths as a result of the illness, according to the latest data of the Johns Hopkins University. Those figures reflect a mortality that is far lower than in Spain, France, Italy and the United Kingdom, home to Europe’s other four major leagues. The French government has ended the Ligue 1 season and Paris Saint-Germain were declared champions.
In April, German clubs resumed training, adhering to a protocol that the DFL had drawn up. But social distancing and other measures have not proven enough to prevent the coronavirus cases at FC Koln.
FC Koln’s Birger Verstraete voiced his concern about the situation. His partner suffers from a heart condition. The Belgium midfielder said that it was “strange” the club didn’t quarantine the whole squad. “It’s not up to me to decide what to do in the Bundesliga but I can say my head is not in football,” said Verstraete in an interview with Belgian media. “The health of my family, of my partner is the priority.”
The club later demanded Verstraete explain his comments.
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1714110972labto1714110972ofdlr1714110972owedi1714110972sni@o1714110972fni1714110972