If we’d done as Europe did, we’d have football
German soccer officials will gladly share their knowledge and experiences, even their medical protocols, with other sports that want to resume playing.
The one thing they can’t share? A sound government strategy to contain the COVID-19 pandemic and communal buy-in of protective measures.
As the chances of playing football this fall in the United States look increasingly grim, Germany’s soccer league has completed the season that was interrupted by COVID and is looking ahead to starting its next one in September – possibly with fans in attendance. England’s Premier League will wrap up its season next weekend.
Soccer even returned in Italy and Spain, the European countries hit hardest by the pandemic.
“I would go back to the government response to the overall COVID situation. They acted as quickly as possible, they acted clearly in terms of the guidelines,” Robert Klein, CEO of Bundesliga International, told USA TODAY Sports.
“And then we were able to rely on the individual states. … And then counting on the German population to act accordingly, which was seen widely, and able to limit the initial spikes.”
There are common themes in all return-to-play protocols, regardless of the sport. Social distancing. Masks. Limiting time in confined, indoor spaces, like locker rooms. Limiting the number of people at a stadium or training facility. Frequent hand washing and sanitizing of all equipment. Asking players to limit their interactions with people outside their families.
But perhaps the most significant factor in whether sports can resume is a government’s response to the pandemic. Specifically, a widespread and robust testing program that provides results quickly and allows for the quarantines and contact tracing that will limit the spread of infection in the community.
In Germany, for example, within two weeks of the Bundesliga shutting down, the country was conducting some 500,000 tests a week. That meant when the league resumed play, it could be confident in getting quick results and that it was not taking tests away from the rest of the country.
The Bundesliga conducted more than 1,700 tests before play resumed. Then, players, personnel and anyone who was going to be in the stadium were tested twice a week, he said, with tests done 24 hours before a game. Anyone who tested positive wasn’t allowed in the stadium.
Klein said he doesn’t know how many positive tests there were because they were reported to local health authorities, who were responsible for managing quarantine protocols. But other than second-division Dresden having to postpone two games after the initial round of testing, no games were delayed or canceled.
Since the Premier League resumed in mid-June, at least 1,800 tests have been done each week. As of July 12, there had been three positive tests, and no canceled games.
In Spain, where La Liga’s top division wrapped up Sunday, players were initially tested every day – and also tested for antibodies. If a player tested positive after a game, the league planned to use video replay to identify other players who were exposed.
La Liga also assigned someone to each team to monitor whether the team was following safety protocols. The monitors reported to the league each day, and corrective measures were imposed if there were problems.
“We worked very hard, shoulder to shoulder with the government, to make this possible,” La Liga President Javier Tebas told Sports Illustrated last month.
“I think it’s because our health care protocol is really very efficient, has been very efficient, and it has reduced the risk of infection of our players to the maximum, both during training sessions and during the games themselves.”
It’s true there is less contact in soccer than in football, and Klein said the low amount of “consistent contact” in soccer gives that sport an advantage. But American football teams at all levels are struggling simply to get through offseason workouts, with several having to curtail them after a number of players tested positive.
The federal government left COVID-19 responses up to the individual states, and many that reopened quickly – including Florida, Texas and Tennessee – are now seeing massive spikes in cases. And with no national testing program, the length it takes to get results varies so widely that some people are waiting a week or more, making containment efforts moot.
“I’m not saying we have the solution, because every country is different,” Klein said.
But there’s no ignoring the obvious: In countries where the government had a comprehensive response to COVID that was rooted in science, and the public was supportive of containment measures, people got their sports back.
“That 16th of May is going to stay etched in my memory forever,” Klein said. “The overwhelming sense was one of relief, but also touched with happiness of some normalcy coming back.”