The Bundesliga will experience its first ghost game on Wednesday in Mönchengladbach – and discuss how to deal with Corona in the future.
The corona virus is shaking up the scheduling structure of professional sport. The Bundesliga is also facing urgent decisions. We explain which scenarios are conceivable for the rest of the season.
The coronavirus is spreading more and more throughout Europe and is thus also putting the sporting world under increasing pressure. The Italian Serie A has suspended play until the beginning of April – without having an answer as to when the games will be made up for. Finally, the European Championship will start in mid-June.
But health comes first, that much is clear. Sport must also take a back seat. The scheduling structure of the major professional leagues is being shaken by this, even in the Bundesliga.
The first ghost games are just around the corner. The Rheinderby between Borussia Mönchengladbach and 1 FC Köln will take place on Wednesday without spectators. For next Monday, the DFL has invited the 36 professional clubs to an extraordinary general meeting. The topic here: how to deal with the corona virus?
As we learned, several possibilities are currently being discussed in the scene.
Suspension like in Italy?
One is the “Italian model”. In other words: the league would be suspended for a certain period of time, the competition would be continued at a later date. The advantage of this solution is that the clubs avoid ghost games, which would also lead to considerable financial losses. At the same time they support the official authorities in at least slowing down the spread of the virus.
But the disadvantage is also obvious. In its current form, the framework calendar offers almost no scope for postponing matches on a large scale. After the last Bundesliga matchday in mid-May, the DFB Cup final and the European finals will follow. On June 1, the postponement period for the EM. In April, the calendar is packed with European Cup weeks.
Since the DFL Executive Committee is of the opinion that matchdays can only be postponed en bloc, there are no alternative possibilities here.
More ghost games?
That’s why there are those who advocate that the competition should simply be played without spectators if necessary. From today’s perspective, this is the only way to guarantee that the season will end as planned, that champions, European Cup starters, promotions and relegations will be decided in time.
With the “ghost model”, the clubs are threatened with considerable financial losses. In an official announcement issued by the AG on Monday evening, Borussia Dortmund estimated these losses at “EUR 2.5 and 3.0 million per matchday affected”. While BVB and other heavyweights such as FC Bayern will probably still be able to cushion such declines in turnover, it will be a factor particularly for financially somewhat weaker clubs.
“We naturally calculate the economic damage caused by possible ghost games. If ticket revenues were to fall off, that would naturally be a problem. But not only for us, but for almost all Bundesliga clubs,” said Horst Heldt, Sports Director of 1 FC Köln on Monday.
The discussion about equal opportunities is also still exciting here, when a match is played in front of empty stands at one location, but an audience is allowed elsewhere.
Canceling the competitions?
In addition, a third solution would be conceivable, even if the most massive impact on the game would be the cancellation of all competitions.
In this scenario, the championships would not be played to the end and, due to the failure of the promotion and relegation decisions, 20 or 21 teams would enter the coming season.
But the consequences of this “radical model” would be immense. Because they would not only affect the Bundesliga, but would continue all the way down to the Kreisliga.
DFL meeting on Monday
What the professional clubs will come to – or whether they will find a completely different solution or a hybrid – is completely open.
In times of the coronavirus, a complete week is no longer a more predictable period anyway. By next Monday, the constraints could have changed by now.