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The Bundesliga soccer season will resume in empty stadiums on May 16, picking up right where it left off two months ago in the midst of the outbreak. The announcement on Thursday comes one day after clubs were informed that the season will resume after a meeting between Chancellor Angela Merkel and the 16 state governors in the country.
“The decision means economic survival for some clubs,” German soccer league managing director Christian Seifert said before noting that the virus was still an issue.
“Everyone has to be clear. We’re playing on probation. I expect everyone to live up to this responsibility. Our concept is designed to catch infections early.”
Seifert said the season would resume with the opening Saturday of the 26th round of games, including the Ruhr derby between Borussia Dortmund and Schalke. The match will test local authorities who are hoping to keep fan
groups from assembling around the stadium or watching on television at bars. Seifert, who spoke after a video conference with representatives from each club in Frankfurt, cautioned that everyone concerned would need to enforce strict hygiene measures to ensure no further suspension is required.
On 13 March the Bundesliga was suspended with nine remaining games. Seifert said the final round is now scheduled for the June 27-28 weekend. He said the second division would start on May 16, as well. Seifert said the first two waves of testing between the 36 professional clubs had 10 positive cases of COVID-19, with another two positive cases reported in a third wave.
It was originally intended that teams would spend two weeks in quarantine before games could begin, but an agreement was reached on shorter, separate training camps for each team due to routine testing by the participants.