The Bundesliga Is Back With More Stringent Regulations

The mountain goat, the mascot of the Cologne club

Each team will come to the yard by 3 buses instead of 1 as before; The players will play in small groups, not shaking hands, limiting spitting of saliva on the pitch, specified the strict rules on the German Football Championship (Bundesliga) come back this weekend.

After a 2-month delay for Covid-19, the Bundesliga will return this weekend with a match between Dortmund and Schalke in the 26th round at 20:30 on May 16. Germany's Bundesliga is the earliest tournament in Europe's top five leagues, including the Premier League (England), Ligue 1 (France), La Liga (Spain) and Italy's Serie A.

Although the number of Covid-19 infections in Germany has decreased significantly in the past week, the risk of disease outbreaks remains. To ensure the safety of the players, the tournament organizers have made many strict rules, from training to the field.

Accordingly, the teams before the competition will be put into quarantine to check health. After that, members will be moved to the yard by 3 buses instead of 1 as before to keep a safe distance. Players will be restricted to outside if staying in the hotel. 

The training room, the bedroom of the players are isolated, the players will sit 2 m away when eating, If the players play at home, they can go by car to the yard but have to move alone on car.

Players must go in small groups, they must not shake hands or talk to each other and of course play in the quiet atmosphere because there is no shadow of the fans in the stands. During the game, players also avoid arguing, hugging each other when celebrating goals or even limiting spitting on the field.

Regarding referees, the "Black King" is sure to have his body temperature checked before doing the mission. Anyone who shows signs of an epidemic will be immediately replaced by reserve arbitration. They can come to the field during the day, not focusing as early as the players.

The Bundesliga balls will be disinfected before each match. Without drinking water on the sidelines, each player will have his own water bottle.

In addition, there will be no press conference after each match, but instead online meeting via the application software. The doping inspection room was also redesigned in accordance with the safety regulations for disease prevention.

The Bundesliga has now gone through 25 rounds with Bayern Munich leading the way with 55 points, 4 points more than the second team Dortmund. The championship this season is a race between the top two teams with RB Leipzig (50 points) and Borussia M'gladbach (49 points). 

At the bottom of the table, Werder Bremen and Paderborn are still in the book with 18 and 16 points respectively.