Despite Dynamo Dresden’s squad being sent home to be quarantined for two weeks after two of their players tested positive for coronavirus, the Bundesliga is pugnaciously hanging onto its resolve to press ahead with plans to restart the season for the top two tiers next weekend.
This means the second tier club cannot play their first two games of the restart – against Hannover on 17 May and against Fürth the following weekend.
Bundesliga’s chief executive, Christian Seifert, told ZDF that what had happened in Dresden, where the local authorities told the club the players had to be quarantined, does not stop the top two divisions kicking off on Saturday 16 May as they are sticking to the game plan and that this incident does not in any way change either their aim or plans to finish off the season.
“For the second division that means at the moment that from 81 games, two Dynamo Dresden games can’t be played. We have to see how we deal with that. We are not changing our aim and we are not changing our plans. The aim remains to finish the season.”
The delay for Dresden means they could enter the fray on the weekend of the 26 and 27 May, although that would lead to them immediately playing three games in one week.
“It is only hypothetical to talk about what would happen if the same thing happens to other teams,” Seifert said. “A lot of teams are being tested for the third or fourth time and now we have the special case of Dresden.
“Just because they have to go into quarantine for 14 days does not mean we have to question the continuation of the second division. There is a number [of postponed games] that means it is not possible to finish the season but what that number is I cannot say. That depends on how many teams are affected and how much time is left to finish the season.”
Seifert added there was enough leeway in the scheduling for Dresden to play all their remaining games. Now this is a clear example of being decisive and cutting through the clutter. And biting the bullet.