The German football league (DFL) has reported that 10
people from clubs across the top two divisions have tested positive
for the coronavirus ahead of a crucial meeting on Wednesday which
could approve the resumption of the Bundesliga.
The DFL said the 10 came from 1,724 tests among players, coaching
staff and physiotherapists from 36 clubs. It said that the 10 people
were isolated immediately and will undergo quarantine measures
according to rules from local health authorities.
The testing, with a second round this week, is part of the DFL
concept to assure the Bundesliga can restart with matches behind
closed doors.
The DFL said that it has also agreed with the labour ministry that
all clubs will hold a training camp under quarantine conditions
before a potential restart later this month. However, their hopes could have been undermined by Hertha Berlin attacker
Salomon Kalou, who posted a hastily deleted Facebook video which
showed team-mate Jordan Torunarigha giving a sample for a coronavirus
test and Kalou greeting team-mates by hand.
The DFL called the video "absolutely unacceptable" in a statement.
Bundesliga clubs have resumed team training this week after
undergoing tests for the virus. The league hopes to resume playing
behind closed doors some time this month.
On Wednesday German Chancellor Angela Merkel and state premiers will
again meet to discuss easing lockdown restrictions with the
possibility of resuming the Bundesliga again on the agenda.
Cologne said "the entire team, as well as the coaching and backroom
staff," underwent a second test for Covid-19 on Sunday and an
independent laboratory said they were all negative after three
positives were reported last week.
The three people at Cologne - later revealed to be two players and a
physiotherapist - went into quarantine after testing positive on
Friday.
Team training would continue, said Cologne, while bottom club
Paderborn started team training on Monday after their tests returned
negative.
The DFL confirmed a report in Kicker magazine which said
it recommended clubs do not publish results of their own tests but
that a central announcement would be made.
While some clubs have issued their own statements or confirmed media
reports, Augsburg, Borussia Moenchengladbach and RB Leipzig have not
released information.
As part of the DFL concept for a return to football, it will not be
automatically released to the media if a player tests positive for
the coronavirus.
The issue of whether players should have access to tests, while
apparently healthy, to enable them to work while members of the
general population do not, has been a controversial part of the plan.
The spokesman for German interior minister Horst Seehofer dismissed
the notion the Bundesliga was being "privileged" and broadly welcomed
the concept.
Cologne player Birger Verstraete questioned why the entire squad was
not put into quarantine after his club announced the positive tests
though later rowed back on his criticism.
But football lawyer Horst Kletke does not believe players could
legally refuse to play out of fear of infection should restrictions
be lifted and matches behind closed doors approved to complete the
season.
"If there is no contact ban or other restrictions which ban training
or playing, the work must be done," he told the Frankfurter
Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper.
However, players could not be forced to live in quarantine when
healthy between matches. "Especially in this point the voluntary
acceptance and agreement is needed, in work contracts there is no
24/7 requirement."
Werder Bremen advisory board chief Marco Bode admitted that forcing
players to play was unrealistic even if legally possible.
"If we want to see games again in this Bundesliga season or in the
coming first half of next season, we need highly motivated
professionals who want to win in this situation just as much as
before," he told Radio Bremen.
"And you can't do that when you don't want to. From my point of view
we will never force anyone."