- Players will live in team hotels or at home
- But sex or kissing may be banned
- Contact training should be minimised
- Team meetings held in big rooms
- If the blueprint works in Germany, then the Premier League may also follow
By James Sharpe For The Mail On Sunday
Football could be coming back. Fans and players in England will be holding their breath as Germany’s Bundesliga aims to restart on May 9.
A document released by the German FA and the DFL has mapped out how the game can return safely amid the Coronavirus crisis, how players will train and play matches as well as what happens if someone contracts Covid-19 before the season is finished.
Players can live either in team hotels or at home but sex and kissing is banned if they or their partners show symptoms of the virus. Stadiums will allow a maximum of 300 people at one time, including only four policemen, 10 journalists, four ball boys, eight groundsmen and 50 security staff.
If it works in Germany, then it will give a huge push to the return of live football in England.
The whole team will be tested before their first training session, then twice a week until the end of the season, one of which is just before a match. Players should also stagger their arrival at training and text the hygiene officer to confirm they are clear of any symptoms.
Contact training should be minimised with team meetings held in big rooms and only for ‘compelling reasons’, with players keeping two metres apart. No eating will be allowed in the kitchen and food must be taken away.
Players will be encouraged to shower and change at home and they must put their own kit and boots into the washing machine.
WHO YOU CAN WATCH
If the Bundesliga resumes on May 9 with the fixtures which were originally scheduled for that day, it would feature a real blockbuster between third-placed Leipzig and the side immediately above them, Borussia Dortmund.
That means a showdown between two of the German top-flight’s superstars, Dortmund’s England ace Jadon Sancho and Liverpool target Timo Werner.
And fans starved of live action will have plenty more big names to admire as the first of Europe’s big leagues returns.
Bayern Munich’s in-form hot shot, Robert Lewandowski, has one hand on the Golden Boot with 25 goals to his name already.
Norwegian teen sensation Erling Haaland has bagged nine goals in eight games since joining Borussia Dortmund in January.
And the evergreen Bayern World Cup winner Thomas Muller is this season’s assist king with 16 to his name so far.
HOW PLAYERS CAN PLAY
Teams should arrive on several buses to help increase distance, or wear face masks. Their buses will be disinfected before entering the stadium. Each team should arrive and leave at a different time, and for home games players should arrive in their own cars.
The body temperature of players will taken on arrival with ear thermometers, and each room will also be disinfected, with doors to be left open.
Starting line-ups and subs should change in different facilities and warm up separately. Their time spent in the dressing-room will be kept to a minimum with two-metre social distancing imposed and players will shower individually.
The food is to be prepared in advance by team chef, and players will only use personalised drinks bottles.
Private conversations must be avoided to maintain distancing, with whispering to be avoided.
Both teams will not be in the tunnel at the same time, and there will also be no player escorts, no mascots, no team photos, no handshakes. The teams will not stand alongside each other either.
Substitutes on the bench are also set to sit two or three seats apart with some seated up in the stands if needed.
And the post-match interviews are to be kept to a minimum with no mixed zone access.
WHERE PLAYERS CAN LIVE
AT A HOTEL
Teams should either have their own hotel or have their own floor, with their own entrance and elevator, to avoid contact with other hotel visitors and maintaining two-metre distancing between each other.
Players will press lift buttons with their elbows, but will not be able to use the bar or room service.
They are also to wear masks outside their own room with no cleaning of the rooms to take place while the team is in the hotel.
AT THEIR HOME
Players will be instructed to stay inside as much as possible, receive few visitors, and also avoid crowds if they go out with no use of public transport whilst maintaining two-metre distancing.
They must keep a record of family members and their safety record.
They will also be told to avoid kissing or sex with partners who are showing symptoms and to not share toothbrushes, towels, dishes, drinks or bed sheets.
But there will be no need for them to wear masks unless when people visit or they come into possible contact with an infected person.
Players will have to cough and sneeze at least two metres away from each other and turn around and preferably into handkerchief or into arm. They will also disinfect surfaces regularly.
WHAT HAPPENS IF SOMEONE TESTS POSITIVE?
If someone tests positive, it is not necessary for the whole team to automatically go into quarantine.
However, the infected player must self-isolate from his family and fellow team members for 14 days from the start of symptoms. They will also have to stay in different rooms to family members, sleep in separate beds and wear a face mask.
The club doctor will be informed and the information will be sent to the League. Thay will be kept anonymous and not reported to the press.
Any players testing positive will have to self-isolate from their family and team members for 14 days after the start of symptoms. Their return to work must be agreed by the club.
