Bundesliga confirm May 16 restart

It’s alive! Football’s alive!

On May 16, football will be played in Europe again! (South Korea is a week ahead, with their first game set to take place tomorrow, Friday.)

Or, to be more specific, non-Belorussian football will be played again, since Belarus never actually suspended their season. (How is that going for them by the way? Haven’t heard much ... so pretty okay? Only around 20,000 cases with 100 deaths have been officially reported.)

In any case, after getting the green light from the German government on Wednesday, the Bundesliga have decided to restart on May 16, giving teams 10 days to get completely ready for matches. Most teams in the top two divisions of German football had been back to individual training for about a month. They are targeting a late-June finish, before the June 30 contract-armageddon.

“We are now looking forward to resuming play … this ensures that the sporting decisions are made on the pitch and not in the boardroom.

“I would like to expressly thank the DFL and the medicine task force for the excellent organisational and medical plans. I appeal to everyone involved to follow the guidelines in these plans, which are the basis for resuming play, in an exemplary and disciplined manner.”

-Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Bayern Munich CEO; source: Guardian

Germany will be joined in playing by the likes of Hungary, Croatia, and Serbia by the end of May, with hopefully more countries being able to take similar steps in the near future as well.