Testing debate rages amid hopes for German football return in May

BERLIN: The Bundesliga hopes to get the go-ahead from the German government to resume in May, yet a debate is raging as to whether there will be enough testing available for the coronavirus to keep players safe.

League football was suspended in mid-March in Germany until at least April 30 to help limit the spread of the virus, but the German Football League (DFL) hopes matches can resume early next month.

If the authorities give the green light, the Bundesliga could be the first top European league to restart and could potentially make German football the focus of a global audience. One proposal is for games to be played behind closed doors without spectators — dubbed ‘ghost games’ in German — with each of the 36 clubs in the top two tiers testing their players, coaches and backroom staff every three to four days.

Only those players or staff who test positive for the coronavirus would be quarantined — not entire teams — with the league hoping the season can be completed by June 30. The date is important as it would secure around 300 million euros ($326 million) from television deals alone, which could reportedly save some clubs from insolvency.

However, the plan to resume next month would require around 20,000 tests spread across the 36 teams — 18 clubs in the Bundesliga and the same number in the second tier. There are concerns that testing footballers would put unnecessary strain on the health system in Germany, which has 133,830 official cases of coronavirus and 3,868 deaths, according to Friday’s figures.

“We don’t have infinite testing capacities (in Germany),” virologist Ulf Dittmer told newspaper Ruhr Nachrichten. “I don’t know whether it is ethically justifiable to carry out 20,000 tests on people who are not actually a risk group and who do not have symptoms.”