German sports Minister backs Bundesliga restart; Cologne player concern

German Sports Minister Horst Seehofer supports a Bundesliga restart later in the month amid the coronavirus outbreak while Cologne player Birger Verstraete expressed concern after three positive cases at the club. Photo: Reuters

German Sports Minister Horst Seehofer supports a Bundesliga restart later in the month amid the coronavirus outbreak while Cologne player Birger Verstraete expressed concern after three positive cases at the club. Photo: Reuters

Published May 3, 2020

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FRANKFURT – German Sports Minister Horst Seehofer supports a

Bundesliga restart later in the month amid the coronavirus outbreak

while Cologne player Birger Verstraete expressed concern after three

positive cases at the club.

"I consider the timetable of the DFL plausible and support a restart

in May," The Interior Minister Seehofer, whose portfolio includes

sports, told the Bild am Sonntag Sunday paper.

"But it is also clear for me that there can't be any privileges for

the Bundesliga."

The German Football League (DFL) and German Football Federation (DFB)

has created a manual for a restart behind closed doors later this

month, under strict health regulations and with frequent tests for

players and staff.

Clubs hope that the government will give the go-ahead on Wednesday.

In the interview conducted before Cologne on Friday announced three

positive test result from within their ranks, Seehofer insisted that

strict rules had to be followed.

"If there is a corona-case at a team or the team staff then the whole

club and possibly also the last opponent must go into quarantine for

two weeks."

DFB and DFL task force chairman Tim Meyer told broadcasters Sport1

late Saturday that the system could never be completely foul-proof

and would remain vulnerable.

"If there are too many positive cases, this system can certainly

falter," the DFB chief medical officer Meyer said, urging strict

discipline from everyone to make things work.

Meyer said he wasn't surprised about the positive tests as almost

2,000 tests have been conducted at the clubs and said their main aim

was "achieving a medically justifiable risk with a bundle of

measures" and it would take up to five weeks to see if the system

really worked.

Verstraete meanwhile expressed scepticism that measures the club took

after the positive tests were the right ones as he named restart

efforts "naive."

In accordance with the task force manual, and supported by local

health authorities, the three - two players and a physiotherapist -

went into quarantine for two weeks while the rest can continue

training in small groups and with social distancing in place.

Midfielder Verstraete told VTM television in his native Belgium, as

reported by the Het Laatste Nieuws paper late Saturday, that it was

"a bit bizarre" only the three were placed in quarantine.

"The physiotherapist is the man who treated me and other players for

weeks. And I formed a duo with one of the two players in question in

the gym on Thursday," he said.

It was therefore "not quite right" that no other members of the

Cologne team had come into contact with those affected.

The report said that Verstraete's girlfriend is a heart patient and

therefore part of a risk group, making him extra cautious.

dpa

Related Topics:

coronavirus