By Dismas Ahwera
Twenty-four hours after Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government gave the German Football League (DFL) the green light to return,the league said itwill resume the season on Saturday, May 16.
The Bundesliga will bethe first top European league to restart matches since the outbreak of the coronavirus forced lockdown measures to be imposed across the continent.
However,clubs are under pressure to get their players ready. In the run-up to the restart, all teams must go into aone-week quarantine training camp. Until Merkel gave the go-ahead, clubs had still been training in small groups.
Defending champions Bayern Munich, who were four points clear when the league was halted in mid-March,will move their stars into a hotelon Saturday to prepare.Bayerntravel to Berlin on Sunday, May 17, to face FC Union, where previous leaders Dortmundand Moenchengladbach have both lost this season.
On Thursday, Dortmund held their first full team training in seven weeks after “a constructive conversation with the local health authority”.
Borussia Moenchengladbach also resumed team training, despite announcing Thursday thatone of their backroom staffhad “a very weak” positive testof the coronavirus and had beenquarantined.
The Bundesliga wants tocomplete the last nine rounds of matches before June 30to secure around 300 millioneuros ($325 million) in television money.
