The Soccer Comeback After Quarantine

Many people believed that this wouldn't be possible when the pandemic broke out. Luckily, however, soccer will make a comeback after quarantine. Learn more with us!

Little by little, the world is waking up from the great lethargy that the coronavirus pandemic has caused. In case you didn’t know, sport is actually one of the sectors with the most repercussions. Because of this, some leagues changed their formats and dates for competitions. The good news is that we’ll actually see the return of soccer after quarantine. Continue reading this article to learn more.

The Bundesliga: soccer after quarantine

On Saturday, May 16th, the teams from the German first division, the Bundesliga, will return to the stadiums. Those from the second category, the Bundesliga 2, will also return.

After being suspended in mid-March, the German Football Association (GFA for short) has finally confirmed through an announcement by President Christian Seifert that the competition will resume this upcoming weekend.

The matches correspond to day 26 (of 34) and will be the following:

• Borussia Dortmund-Schalke 04.
• Leipzig-Freiburg.
• Hoffenheim-Hertha Berlin.
• Dusseldorf-Paderborn.
• Augsburg-Wolfsburg.
• Eintracht Frankfurt-Borussia Monchengladbach.
• Dortmund, among the most winners of the Bundesliga.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, May 17th, the day will continue with:

• Koln-Mainz.
• Union Berlin-Bayern Munich.

Finally, on Monday, May 18th, the next game will take place:

• Werder Bremer-Bayer Leverkusen.

As of now, the leader is Bayern Munich with 55 points, followed by Borussia Dortmund with 51 points.

The comeback of soccer after quarantine: preventive measures

Of course, this comeback involves various actions to prevent possible contagion on each day. There are three conditions for the Bundesliga to resume. Let’s see what they are.

1. The stadium will allow up to a maximum of 213 people to enter. Now, out of those 213 individuals, 98 will be on the field of play (players, referees, coaching staff) and 115 in the stands. In addition, 109 people will stay outside sports venues for security.
2. Fans cannot enter the stadium, nor can they circulate in the surrounding areas.
3. Players will be monitored before the game and regularly during training. If one of them has a positive COVID test result, they’ll be withdrawn from the competition. However, the whole team doesn’t have to go into quarantine.

Soccer after quarantine: what’ll happen in Spain?

With the Bundesliga precedent, it’s understandable that we wonder what’ll happen to one of the most important leagues in the world, such as the Spanish one. Experts confirmed that the restart date of La Liga would be June 20th so that the players can return to training after two months of suspension.

The 2019-2020 soccer season in Spain has eleven days left to complete. One of the options for it to finish as soon as possible is to hold a double weekly competition; in other words, there’d be matches on Wednesdays and Thursdays and then on Saturdays and Sundays.

For now, the clubs have sterilized, rearranged, and prepared their venues for the return of the staff (including the players, of course). All employees will have to keep a two-meter distance with their colleagues and wear masks.

Most teams started with limited training, with groups of no more than five players. Some players train in different shifts; some in the morning, others in the afternoon, and others at night time. This is done in order to comply with the requirements of the Spanish government.

Other leagues that are slowly returning

In addition to the two cases we mentioned previously, important returns are still awaited, such as the Italian Calcio or the English Premier League. Day after day, the news gives out new information regarding this topic. However, as of now, this is what we know about the other soccer leagues in the world:

1. Serie A (Italy)

Italy’s one of the countries most affected by the coronavirus, and they’re doing everything possible to go back to normal as soon as possible. A statement from Gabriele Gravina, president of the Italian Football Federation, established that the season would resume in June, although group training could start on Monday, May 18th.

2. English Premier League (England)

The English Premier League calendar was frozen with 29 disputed dates (Liverpool being in the lead) and some teams, such as Arsenal or Wolverhampton, have already returned to training. Experts estimate that the Premier League would resume on June 8th in neutral stadiums in order to avoid transferring the players.

French soccer won’t return immediately after quarantine

Finally, we’ll also mention that Ligue 1 of France was terminated at the beginning of the quarantine. As a result, Paris Saint Germain was proclaimed champion. Therefore, the 2020-2021 season would start after the summer.