Next Bundesliga season start planned for September 18, league says

Bayern Munich are familiar Bundesliga champions thanks to new coach Hansi Flick who got them on track after a slow start and also made sure they got through the coronavirus break in a unique season. Photo: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters

Bayern Munich are familiar Bundesliga champions thanks to new coach Hansi Flick who got them on track after a slow start and also made sure they got through the coronavirus break in a unique season. Photo: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters

Published Jul 1, 2020

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BERLIN – The next Bundesliga season is to start on September 18 and could see a shortened winter break, the German Football League (DFL) said on Wednesday.

The DFL said in a statement it is presenting various models to the 36 Bundesliga and second-division clubs - including a shorter winter break or more mid-week rounds.

A final decision is with the German Football Federation (DFB).

A new calendar is needed because the domestic and European 2019-20 season is ending later than scheduled because of the coronavirus pandemic, and national team matches have been rearranged for autumn.

DFL president Christian Seifert meanwhile said in an interview with Wednesday's Die Welt paper that German clubs playing in Europe may get a later start.

Five Bundesliga teams are left in the Champions League and Europa League which complete their season with mini-tournaments in Portugal until August 23 and in Germany until August 21, respectively.

"A certain amount of flexibility is needed in these times," Seifert said. "In exceptional times, this can lead to exceptionally unusual decisions."

Seifert also said it remains the aim to allow some fans back in although mass gatherings remain prohibited in Germany until October 31, unless there is a strict hygiene concept and tracing of all spectators is possible.

"It is therefore the task of the DFL to develop a framework of what an overall hygiene concept can look like," said Seifert.

He said there can't be one solution for all because "one stadium may be located in a region with more or less new infections and face masks being mandatory – and another isn't."

DPA

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