Europe’s first elite league to return has planned meticulously but wants to make the most of its moment in the spotlightHere we go. The phrase Geisterspielen – ghost games – is about to become part of international, rather than just German, football nomenclature because on Saturday the Bundesliga will become the first of Europe’s elite leagues to resume in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.It may not be the most endearing way of framing it but there is no escaping that its European counterparts are viewing the Bundesliga as their guinea pig, learning from their best practice and, perhaps, any mistakes. After a few years of spreading its wings, creating an international arm to the business and beginning to chase...
As the German top flight returns from lockdown on Saturday, we give you the lowdown on all nine games• All times BST and broadcast live on BT Sport Continue reading...
The league plans to return this month, but Hertha’s Salomon Kalou and 10 positive Covid tests have weakened its caseIt was expected, and now it’s here. The Bundesliga will be the first of Europe’s major leagues to restart in the second half of May, with the federal government sign-off on Wednesday giving the league freedom to decide on the timetable itself. It had been signposted by the health minister, Jens Spahn, giving verbal approval to the DFL’s detailed safety and hygiene plan this week.The devil, however, is in the detail. Spahn ended by saying that designing a plan and living it out were two different things, and that is exactly what the Bundesliga and its clubs are finding out. On...
Gino Pivatelli does not have a prominent place in the hearts of Milan fans but a foul in a European Cup final and telling Arrigo Sacchi he wasn’t good enough changed historyYou can plan, you can plan and you can plan some more and then something happens over which you had no control, that you couldn’t reasonably have been expected to foresee, and everything changes. That’s not to say that there’s no point in coaches and directors planning, but it is to say that there are times when entirely external events take control – and that doesn’t have to mean something as enormous as coronavirus. Football can turn on events that seem random, unconnected, unpredictable – the bounce of a...
The resignation of six directors is the latest instalment in a soap opera in which boardroom squabbles have become the normThe resignation letter six Barcelona directors handed to a notary on Thursday night, deepening the club’s crisis, included a demand that the external investigation into what has become known as “Barçagate” be completed, with anyone responsible punished and any money repaid. The allegations, first reported by Cadena SER Radio, are that payments totalling €900,000 were made to the company I3 Venturesto run social media accounts and websites that attacked opposition figures, players past and present, and defended the reputation of the president Josep Maria Bartomeu.Barcelona, Bartomeu and I3 Ventures have strongly denied wrongdoing, with the president describing the allegations as...