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Bundesliga returns in May as German government gives green light

German Chancellor Angela Merkel confirms the Bundesliga can resume in mid-May.

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Bundesliga will be back this month. (Source: Reuters)

The Bundesliga has been given the green light to resume without fans in the coming weeks by German Chancellor Angela Merkel – with May 15 the earliest possible day for a restart. If everything goes according to plan then the Bundesliga will be Europe’s first major football league to start up again during the coronavirus pandemic.

While the Bundesliga will be allowed to resume in the second half of May, Turkish SuperLiga will restart on June 12.

Bayern Munich are on the top of the table four points clear of Borussia Dortmund with nine matches left to play.

Football in Germany has been suspended since mid-March, with coronavirus having infected over 150,000 people in the country so far. Almost 6,300 people have died of the disease in the country.

The Bundesliga’s General Assembly on Thursday is expected to decide on the start date and match calendar in that meeting but the tentative date is expected to be May 15.

Sources told Reuters that the government and federal states had also agreed that the second division, the 2. Bundesliga, could restart matches.

Germany’s professional teams have been training since mid-April, divided into small groups and under strict conditions, including extensive testing of all players and coaching staff.

On Monday, the DFL said it had registered 10 positive cases in a blanket test of 1,724 players and staff at its 36 first and second division clubs.

(With Reuters inputs)