The Bundesliga could be back up and running by the end of next week.
Following a much-anticipated Wednesday meeting with regional leaders, German chancellor Angela Merkel agreed to allow the country’s top two divisions resume the 2019-20 season inside empty stadiums as soon as May 15. Like the rest of the sporting world, the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga went dark in March in response to the global coronavirus pandemic.
But Germany’s handling of the crisis has been among the best of any nation and, as a result, the Bundesliga — one of the world’s four elite domestic soccer circuits along with the England’s Premier League, Spain’s La Liga and Italy’s Serie A — will become the highest-profile sports competition to date to reopen, albeit under strict guidelines that includes widespread testing of players and staff and playing matches without fans in attendance.