Some coaches and players have already been affected – the current wave of corona is causing headaches for the Bundesliga football clubs, because the schedule does not allow for match cancellations.
Christian Streich’s problem was still relatively easy to solve. “I can’t really get into RTL+. First I have to get someone,” said the SC Freiburg coach, describing the pitfalls of streaming technology. During the video call from his kitchen before the Breisgau team’s European Cup match against Nantes, which Streich had to watch in front of his home screen on Thursday, the coach looked a little worn out – the Corona symptoms were unmistakable.
A number of protagonists in the Bundesliga are currently feeling similar to Streich. Fellow coaches Daniel Farke (Borussia Mönchengladbach) and Urs Fischer (Union Berlin) have been affected, but both are fit again. They are joined by prominent professionals such as Joshua Kimmich and Thomas Müller from Bayern Munich. Müller still has “a bit of problems and cold symptoms”, coach Julian Nagelsmann said on Friday, so the goal scorer will miss the top match against Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.
Müller’s club colleagues Manuel Neuer and Leon Goretzka had previously had to turn their backs on the national team – just like Lina Magull most recently with the German women.
In view of these cases, the worries in the league are growing. After all, the overcrowded schedule up to the World Cup in Qatar (20 November to 18 December) offers no room for make-up games. Cancellations of matches, such as those recently seen in the Basketball Bundesliga, must therefore be avoided at all costs.
Werder Bremen has therefore reacted to the autumn wave and wants to tighten up its measures. “We had an exchange with the health department last time and will decide in the coming week how to proceed,” said professional football director Clemens Fritz on Wednesday: “We will have another exchange with the medical department in the next few days.”
Bayern also tightened the reins after the team’s visit to Oktoberfest. “It’s a topic that’s on our minds again. We have spoken to the players, there was no more Wiesn visit for example,” coach Julian Nagelsmann reported. “We always sensitise the players. I think everyone is paying good attention.”
According to Hasan Salihamidzic, the club has recognised the seriousness of the situation. “We have to handle the situation very responsibly. We don’t want players playing with infection or we have an outbreak situation,” said the Munich sports director: “But we don’t want to fall into this pandemic mode either, we want to lead a normal life.”
How “Bundesliga life” will continue in the event of an outbreak is, after all, clearly settled. After the previous discussions about corona-related match cancellations, the professional clubs passed the so-called “special pandemic regulation” back in May.
According to this, a club can request the cancellation of a match if “at least eleven of the licensed players listed on the match authorisation list are in isolation due to infection with such a disease or are in quarantine as a contact person of infected persons”.
That Corona will affect the World Cup as well as the Bundesliga seems inevitable. Hansi Flick is aware of that. “Maybe we have to consciously reduce contacts again,” said the national coach with regard to the cases with the national team: “It should also go on in life. Therefore, we have to see that we keep it well under control.”
That’s what everyone is trying to do at the moment.
