The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
How Germany completed the Bundesliga season
DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY (AP) » There was a trophy, there were medals and there were commemorative T-shirts. Only the fans were missing as Bayern Munich celebrated its title Saturday and the Bundesliga breathed a sigh of relief. The restart plan worked.
“This isn’t the Bundesliga that we wanted or that we love, but it was the only Bundesliga that was possible,” league CEO Christian Seifert said.
When the Bundesliga restarted on May 16, it was more than a month ahead of other major European leagues. The June 27 finish leaves Bayern Munich and Leipzig with weeks of free time before the Champions League returns in August.
The Bundesliga’s virus testing and medical protocols formed a blueprint for other leagues and sports around the world. Unlike most other European countries, Germany also restarted the women’s league, won by Wolfsburg.
A SEASON LIKE NO OTHER
The games were eerie as players’ shouts echoed off empty concrete terraces and the colorful fan displays were gone. Borussia Dortmund set the tone on the first day back when its players lined up to salute the empty “Yellow Wall,” usually one of Europe’s loudest and best known fan section.
The results were much like any other recent season. Bayern recovered from early-season troubles to win its eighth straight title with two games to spare, then held a muted party in private without players’ families and the usual beer-throwing antics. Dortmund fought hard with an exciting young team, but fell short.
The coronavirus brought pain to some players, at least indirectly. Injuries were more common after the long break from training and second-division club Dynamo Dresden had to play eight games in 22 days after positive coronavirus tests delayed its return to action.
“Do you think that anyone in the league spent a single second thinking about what’s going on in our heads?” Dresden player Chris Löwe said in a tearful, expletive-filled televised interview railing against the German league last week.
Now Bayern and Leipzig face weeks without games before the Champions League resumes in August, though Bayern still has a cup final on July 4 against Bayer Leverkusen. There is also a two-leg promotionrelegation playoff that has yet to be played. VIRUS TESTING Almost immediately after suspending the league on March 13, Germany quietly began preparing for the restart.
It helped that Germany was a world leader in ramping up its coronavirus testing. That meant that the league could use as many as 25,000 coronavirus tests to finish the season without putting a serious dent in the country’s testing capability.
The deputy head of Germany’s main public health body was opposed, saying tests should be saved only for people suspected of having the virus.
At one stage the restart looked in doubt after positive tests for players or staff at first-division club Cologne and second-division teams Dresden and Erzgebirge Aue. Polls consistently showed most Germans were opposed to the restart. Detailed planning by the league for testing and training helped convince key politicians.
The league has stopped publishing testing figures though no top-division team has reported an infection since the league resumed.
The only confirmed case of a player missing a Bundesliga game because of coronavirus was when veteran Werder Bremen striker Claudio Pizarro was quarantined following a positive test for his daughter, as he later told the local Weser Kurier newspaper. He was not found to have the virus.