Bundesliga attempts to cover all bases in ever-changing cris

Firstly, many eyes across European football were rolled as the Italian football authorities struggled to make coherent decisions in a post-coronavirus world. Now, everybody is getting into the same boat. The Bundesliga, so in tune with the value of factoring in fans and of outside engagement to the product, is discovering what a scramble it is to find clarity and a united front in the eye of the storm w88thais.com .

“Now there is a point,” wrote Eintracht Frankfurt’s sporting director Fredi Bobic in a guest column in Kicker, “where we have to assume responsibility in management positions without precise facts and make decisions that concern the health of all of our employees, and indeed everyone involved in football. The worst part is a decision made out of clear conviction in the morning is already useless by the afternoon.”



Bobic himself went through that last week, with his club’s pledge on Wednesday that the following day’s Europa League tie with Basel would be played to an expected full house, before making a U-turn later the same day club w88 .

Like most European leagues, the Bundesliga has been reacting on the fly to the coronavirus crisis, for there is simply no other option. In the middle of last week there was no nationally unified approach across German football. On Tuesday, last Saturday’s scheduled Revierderby between Borussia Dortmund and Schalke had already been arranged to be played behind closed doors (no small decision given the dimensions of the occasion and a potential €5m loss of matchday revenue), Union Berlin released a statement that said after consultation with Berlin’s municipal authorities, their game against Bayern Munich would go ahead with fans present.

By Wednesday that advice had evolved, forcing Union to change tack and announce the game would be behind closed doors. Later in the same day was a historical first for the Bundesliga, with its first-ever game behind closed doors (Geisterspielen, ghost games, as they’re referred to) - a Rhine derby between Borussia Mönchengladbach and Köln.

As Gladbach squeezed to a 2-1 win there were all the appropriate pantomimes. Breel Embolo celebrated his opening goal by mock-cupping his ears. At full-time, having been stymied in their chase for an equaliser, Mark Uth dropped to his haunches and Jorge Meré pulled his shirt over his face in frustration. None of it felt right. Rather than explain contested decisions, referee Deniz Aytekin lamented an evening that was anything but an occasion to the Sky cameras. “It’s hard to put into words,” he said. “Something is missing, and it’s [a] massive [loss]. The passion isn’t there. It’s tough to concentrate.”

It was at that point that alarm bells started ringing for the authorities, too. With a group of Gladbach ultras estimated in excess of 2,000 turning up outside Borussia-Park, despite the stadium being out of town, and demanding to celebrate with their players at full-time, it was starting to become clear that limiting public gatherings would require games to be postponed, rather than to be just played without fans, in scenes reflective of those in the Champions League at Valencia and Paris w88 mobile .

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Further upstairs, it seemed to be taking a little longer for the message to get through. As late as Friday afternoon, the Deutsche Fußball Liga’s official plan was to play all of Matchday 26 – up to and including Monday night’s match between Werder Bremen and Bayer Leverkusen - behind closed doors before starting a hiatus afterwards. This was despite the unease of many of the main protagonists, including Bayern’s Thiago Alcântara, who had made clear his exasperation in a mid-morning tweet. “This is crazy,” wrote the midfielder. “Please stop fooling around and land on reality.”