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The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has been spreading around the world with Germany being one of the countries which have handled the pandemic better than others.
And with the Germany government reducing lockdown restrictions, the German Football League (DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga) has presented plans to restart the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 on Saturday, May 9 and finish the top two tiers before June 30.
But the question remains, if Germany and the DFL can afford to restart professional football?
The DFL after doing their homework last week presented plans on how to play the remaining matches of the 2019/20 season. All games would be ghost matches behind closed doors with no spectators and the minimum number of people at the venues besides regular testing and medical monitoring of all people involved be it players, coaches, and management.
For the DFL and their 36 clubs in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2, playing these matches is a necessity from a financial standpoint as many clubs across the two divisions would face financial hardships or even insolvency as their cash reserves are drying up fast.
This financial need to play the remaining matches to get the fourth and final installment of the national television rights money from the German broadcasters is the key reason to risk playing these games. Big clubs like Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund will come through this crisis but many of the other clubs don’t have the deep pockets of these global giants.
But surprisingly to many in the industry, football loving Germany seems to be sceptical about these closed door matches happening during times of a pandemic without fans just to ensure financial survival of professional football clubs. Fans are saying that they are fundamental to the success of German football and without them football should not be played even in times of financial need.
German politics seem undecided if to finally clear these games as the pandemic remains fluid with infections could rise again.
One will have to wait and see what happens in the coming days…
