Bundesliga season to resume May 16
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The 2019-20 Bundesliga season will resume May 16, chief executive Christian Seifert said Thursday, with hopes of finishing the campaign by the end of June.
A day earlier, Chancellor Angela Merkel gave the top two tiers of German football the green light to proceed with matches. The Bundesliga has nine rounds remaining.
Borussia Dortmund will host Schalke in the Revierderby on May 16 at 3:30 p.m. local time (9:30 a.m. ET). Leaders Bayern Munich, who are four points clear at the top of the table, will travel to face Union Berlin on May 17.
All matches will be played without fans and behind closed doors. Players and staff will also adhere to strict hygiene protocol.
The Bundesliga will become the first of Europe's top leagues to return since the coronavirus began to ripple across the continent. The league halted play in the middle of March in an attempt to slow the spread of the virus.
Merkel said Wednesday that Germany's preventative measures helped to flatten the curve and bring the number of daily infections below the 1,000 mark.
Other countries have taken an entirely different tone to sports. French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe banned all sporting events until September and announced the Ligue 1 season would be canceled. The Eredivisie, the top flight in the Netherlands, was also scrapped prematurely.
La Liga president Javier Tebas is hoping the Bundesliga will provide a blueprint for other leagues to resume play. The Premier League and Serie A are also putting together plans to pick up their campaigns.
"The return of the Bundesliga is great news for the football industry and marks the way for the staggered return of football that will not be complete until the return of fans to stadiums," Tebas said, according to The New York Times' Tariq Panja.
The Bundesliga is expected to conclude by the end of June, but that will depend on the health and safety of the players. Players will be tested at least twice per week until all matches are played.
One hundred Bundesliga players have contracts that expire on June 30, Seifert said, making it a quasi-deadline for the season to end.
However, FIFA issued a recommendation last month that all expiring contracts be extended.
FIFA also granted national associations the freedom to move the transfer window so it falls between the end of the current season and the beginning of the new one.