This was one of the ambiguities in the protocol that was defined to accompany the resumption of the football championships, first and second division, in Germany, officially decided on Wednesday, May 6: what would happen if positive cases in Covid-19 were detected among the teams? The answer was not long in coming.
Saturday May 9, Dynamo Dresden, club of 2e division, announced that it had quarantined its entire team and staff for a period of fourteen days, after two positive cases at Covid-19. Result: the club will not be able to play its resumed championship match, scheduled for May 17.
By announcing the terms of the return to competition, which will take place behind closed doors, the German Football League (DFL) had suggested that if the players were found to be positive, they would be placed in quarantine, but that the rest of the group would not necessarily be. At the same time, it had been reminded on the side of the authorities that the isolation measures fell to the regional powers.
"What will happen when an entire team has to quarantine? ", Had also questioned, Wednesday, the regional minister of the interior of Bremen, Ulrich Mäurer (SPD), while recalling that his city was opposed to a recovery in May, saying that the conditions were not yet met .
No training or matches
In Dresden, the quarantine decision was taken by the city authorities. Consequently, the club cannot "In the next fourteen days, nor (s)train or take part in meetings », said sporting director Ralf Minge, quoted in a statement released by the club. Red lantern of 2e division, the Dynamo Dresden was to move to Hanover on behalf of the 26e day.
In a first round of tests, while the team was still training in small groups, a player from Dresden tested positive for Covid-19. The Dresden health authorities had decided to place only the player in quarantine from May 3. The second wave of tests, conducted on May 4, did not reveal any other positive players or staff. Since Thursday, the team had resumed group training and two contact sessions have taken place.
"Germany is going to give us all an enlightening example"
To get the green light from the government, the DFL presented a medical protocol, based on the multiplication of detection tests and countless protective measures. In particular, the teams will have to isolate themselves a week before the first match. The League thus had all the players of the two championships tested a few days ago.
On Monday May 4, it announced that, of the 1,724 tests conducted in the first wave, ten had been positive. With three positive cases, the Cologne club had been able to continue training.
"The protocol has a lot of international repercussions", welcomed Friedrich Curtius, the general secretary of the German Football Federation, last week. " I believe that Germany will give us all an enlightening example of how to bring football back into our lives, with all its passion, emotion and unpredictability. " approved Aleksander Ceferin, the president of UEFA, the body which covers all of European football. For the unpredictability, he was right …
The Dynamo Dresden decision comes at a time when, locally, in certain regions (Länder), we are starting to reverse the deconfinement measures, decided by the government on Wednesday, May 6, because the number of contaminations has started to rise again. In one canton in North Rhine-Westphalia, the lifting of restrictions on contact between people and the opening of restaurants and amusement parks were postponed for a week, until 18 May. In the east, in Thuringia, the regional government must take a decision within a week, while in one canton several homes for the aged have experienced an outbreak of contamination.
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