Live Staurday afternoon footie to return...!

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Bundesliga return to bring live Saturday afternoon football to UK television - 50 years too late

Exclusive: German league could be first to benefit from the Saturday TV blackout being lifted by the Football Association

By Jeremy Wilson, Chief Sports Reporter 23 April 2020 • 10:04am
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Bundesliga teams are stepping up their preparations for a behind-closed-doors return Credit: AFP

Live league football is set to be televised in Britain on a Saturday afternoon for the first time since the “blackout window” was introduced more than 50 years ago as BT hopes to show German Bundesliga matches from next month.

The Bundesliga will seek to finalise proposals on Thursday for the remaining games to be staged behind closed doors, with a potential May 9 start date, as part of an attempt to complete the season by the end of June.

BT Sport have exclusive access to televise Bundesliga matches in Britain and, with the Football Association having already successfully requested for Saturday afternoon restrictions to be lifted during the coronavirus, it is the German game that is increasingly likely to benefit first.

Lower death rates and a significantly enhanced capacity to carry out mass testing has put the Germans well ahead of any other major European league in their planning to resume the 2019-20 season.
Chancellor Angela Merkel's government is slowly easing nationwide restrictions and the resumption of the Bundesliga, which was halted on March 13, is very much on the agenda after 18 of the clubs resumed training three weeks ago, albeit in small groups with social distancing.

Although BT Sport have lost numerous subscribers following the suspension of the Premier League season, their Bundesliga contract will mean it could suddenly be the only place in Britain to watch live football.

BT previously screened around four Bundesliga matches a week but will seek to expand that output significantly if German football does resume and will have no barriers to also showing matches during the previous ‘blackout’ period between 2.45pm and 5.15pm on a Saturday afternoon.

That was introduced in the UK back in the 1960s in order to protect attendances at matches through the Football League and Non-League pyramid and also applies to games from overseas. A request was successfully made to Uefa by both the English and Scottish FAs earlier this month for this restriction to be lifted for the remainder of the 2019/20 season football season.

Domestic competition in England and Scotland would have been the main consideration in making this request but, as is also the case in Spain, France and Italy, there is currently huge doubt over whether matches could be staged even behind closed doors this summer.

Tentative plans for a June resumption of the Premier League have been discussed but there is an acceptance that footballers could not be tested and quarantined while staff in the National Health Service and Social Care sector are still waiting for tests.

Large public events are banned in Germany until August 31 but there is hope still that final approval could be given for football, and its behind-closed-doors plan, by Merkel at a meeting on April 30.

The Bundesliga and German Football League (DFL) is desperate for the league season to be completed by June 30 to ensure payment of the next instalment of television money, worth around 300 million euros (£264 million).

There has, however, been opposition among some fans’ groups and politicians. According to supporters' group Fanszenen Deutschlands, restarting the season in the middle of the pandemic "would be sheer mockery for the rest of society".

German World Cup winner Thomas Mueller has said that the players would be willing to be put in quarantine so that football can resume. With nine matches remaining for each side, it has been estimated that it would take around 20,000 tests of players and backroom staff to be able to complete all the remaining games.

 

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Players could be forced to wear masks during Bundesliga matches to stop them catching coronavirus

The alternative would be for players and other personnel to be placed into permanent quarantine

By Ben Rumsby 24 April 2020 • 12:56pm
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Jadon Sancho scores for Borussia Dortmund against Freiburg back in February Credit: Getty Images Sport

Footballers could be forced to wear masks during matches to prevent them catching coronavirus under plans drawn up by the German government.
Leaked documents obtained by Spiegel Sports have revealed the radical proposal made by the country’s Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.
The plan was said to be one of two options put forward by the ministry’s Department of Health and Safety for the resumption of the Bundesliga – potentially as early as May 9.
The alternative would be players and other personnel necessary for matches to be staged being placed into permanent quarantine.
The mask plan also calls for matches to be stopped if any slip off and for players to be ordered not to touch the apparatus with their hands.
According to the documents, both players and officials should wear “sport-appropriate mouth-nose protection” that should not slip off during “sprints, headers and duels”.
The report proposed each match be stopped “every 15 minutes at the latest” to replace masks due to “increased breathing volume” that would make them unusable more quickly than usual.
The mask swaps would be labelled as “short game breaks” in which every player would be told to stay at least 1.5 metres apart.
The documents went on to claim any unnecessary contact, such as team-mates hugging after a goal is scored, would not be permitted.
The ministry told Spiegel Sports the list of requirements was only a “first draft”.
Earlier in the week, Bundesliga bosses signed off on the May comeback with all matches being played behind closed doors.
For the return to take place, all of the competition’s 1,100 players require testing for Covid-19 and must adhere to stringent hygiene precautions – such as washing their own kit.
Bundesliga chief executive Christian Seifert said: “The Bundesliga is ready to resume, no matter whether on May 9 or a later date. But it’s not up to us to find a date. The political decision makers decide.
“We have not defined an exact date today. The fact that we are even able to think about resuming games underlines the performance of the German authorities.”