Several Bundesliga clubs are set to return to training on Monday in small groups amid uncertainty when the league will resume.
However, the city state of Bremen has demanded all federal states act accordingly and is yet to approve Werder Bremen’s return to training.
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The Bundesliga has been suspended because of the coronavirus outbreak since March 13. While some teams briefly resumed training the following week, they were forced to find new solutions when Germany banned gatherings of more than two people on March 22. Bayern Munich led the way with cyber training sessions.
To avoid an unfair competition, the German football league (DFL) advised its clubs to not start training before April 6, but still a few clubs such as Borussia Dortmund returned to training in groups of two last week.
This week, most other clubs are set to follow suit and the groups will be expanded to more than two people, all in accordance with government policy, several clubs said.
“The FC Bayern Munich first team will return to training at Sabener Strasse in small groups from Monday, April 6. This will be done in coordination with government policy and the relevant authorities. It goes without saying that all hygiene regulations will be strictly observed,” German champions Bayern said in a statement.
The club asked fans to abstain from travelling to the training ground to follow the session.
Dortmund will also no longer restrict their group size to just two players but will continue to train in small groups. However, the players will not be able to use the dressing room and will have to shower at home, kicker reported.
Fifteen of the 18 Bundesliga clubs have confirmed they will resume training until Tuesday latest, while Borussia Monchengladbach and Freiburg have yet to announce a date.
Werder Bremen, meanwhile, continue to wait for the state of Bremen’s approval to allow professional footballers to return to team training.
The state’s senator of the interior, Ulrich Maurer, told a news conference on Friday that he wants all of Germany’s federal states to act accordingly and agree on one single line early this week.
The Bundesliga has been suspended until late April and the league is hoping to return to action in early May. While virologists in Germany have said this could be possible, they warned the plan required a lot of testing amid the coronavirus outbreak.
According to numbers released by the Johns Hopkins University, Germany had 100,123 confirmed cases of COVID-19 on April 6, the fourth-highest number worldwide only behind the United States, Spain and Italy.