The Bundesliga returns on Saturday in empty stadiums, but German fans are being warned to stay away and authorities have warned matches cou...
The Bundesliga returns on Saturday in empty stadiums, but German fans are being warned to stay away and authorities have warned matches could be halted if too many supporters gather outside the grounds.
German football will be blazing a trail among Europe’s top leagues by resuming two months after it was halted by the spread of coronavirus, but its strategy is fraught with risks.
In a football-mad country which boasts the highest average attendances in the world, will supporters banished from stadiums be able to stay away?
In Saxony, where third-placed RB Leipzig will host mid-table Freiburg on Saturday afternoon, the state’s Interior Minister Roland Woeller has issued a clear threat.
“Fans must not use matches behind closed doors as an excuse to gather in front of the stadiums or elsewhere,” he said.
“This could lead to matches being stopped.”
His concerns are justified.
Several hundred fans gathered in Moenchengladbach when the hosts beat 2-1 Cologne on March 11 – the only previous German league game played behind locked doors, just days before the shutdown.
Eintracht Frankfurt have appealed to their supporters before they resume their season against ‘Gladbach on Saturday.
“We’ve talked a lot with our fans and said: ‘listen guys, don’t show up at the stadium’,” Frankfurt’s sports director Fredi Bobic told ESPN.
Under German league rules put in place...
