'Stay away' - German fans warned ahead of Bundesliga restart

Bundesliga returns on Saturday in empty stadiums, but German fans are being warned to stay away and authorities have warned matches could be halted if too many supporters gar outside grounds. German football will be blazing a trail among Europe's top leagues by resuming two months after it was halted by spread of coronavirus, but its strategy is fraught with risks. In a football-mad country which boasts highest aver attendances in world, will supporters banished from stadiums be able to stay away? In Saxony, where third-placed RB Leipzig will host mid-table Freiburg on Saturday afteron, state's Interior Minister Roland Woeller has issued a clear threat.

"Fans must t use matches behind closed doors as an excuse to gar in front of stadiums or elsewhere," he said.

"This could lead to matches being stopped." His concerns are justified.

Several hundred fans gared in Moenchengladbach when hosts beat 2-1 Cologne on March 11 -- only previous German league game played behind locked doors, just days before shutdown. Eintracht Frankfurt have appealed to ir supporters before y resume ir season against 'Gladbach on Saturday. "We've talked a lot with our fans and said: 'listen guys, don't show up at stadium'," Frankfurt's sports director Fredi Bobic told ESPN.

Under German league rules put in place to resume season, home side is responsible for ensuring fans do t try to approach stadium to support ir team from a distance. After weeks of meticulous planning and mass testing of players and backroom staff, it would be a nightmare for Bundesliga if fans were to derail fragile recovery attempt. Christian Seifert, CEO of Bundesliga, does t expect fans to play into hands of critics who fear y will mass outside grounds despite large public events being banned in Germany.

Seifert accused critics predicting that football fans would fail to respect pleas for restraint of making "sweeping statements". "I don't believe that fan scene and fan organisations will do ir critics... favour of behaving in exactly way" that those doomsayers fear, he said. Bundesliga boss said all talks he had held on issue "do t give any indication" that supporters will gar. Broadcaster Sky has agreed to show some of Saturday's matches on a free-to-air channel, allaying fears that fans will gar in bars or public places which have a subscription for pay-per-view service.

Historic first

However, Seifert says while y are taking every reasonable step to discour fans from meeting up, " DFL's responsibility ends at a certain point". centrepiece of Saturday's return to action is Borussia Dortmund at home to Schalke in Ruhr derby, a match which would usually draw a crowd of 82,000 to Signal Iduna Park. Instead, it will be first time this fixture is played behind closed doors since it began in 1925.

Germany's huge stadiums - for example Bayern Munich's ermous Allianz Arena holds 75,000 - will remain empty for forseeable future. re are fears in German football scene that 'Ultras' -- hardcore fans who often lead chanting at matches -- will lose ir hard-earned influence at ir clubs. Some groups of se hardcore supporters are opposed to games being played in empty stadiums, because y feel initiative is driven by financial reasons.

clubs are er to finish league season before June 30 in order to collect around 300 million euros ($324 million) due from TV contracts. Helen Breit from nationwide football supporters group "Unsere Kurve" (Our Curve) said she refused to watch a single match without fans on television. "For me, football is in stadiums," she told Munich-based paper Sueddeutsche Zeitung. "I've been going to almost every Freiburg match for more than ten years and watching football on TV is t an option for me." 

Football is 'sick'

Ar group feels resumption of football during a pandemic, which has claimed 7,500 lives in Germany, shows how "sick" professional football has become. "A continuation of season would be sheer mockery of rest of society,"  Ultras groups across Germany said in a joint statement last month. "Professional football is sick eugh and should remain in quarantine." But for vast majority of fans, decision to play nine remaining round of matches behind closed doors makes best of a bad situation. Even if fans cant be in stands in person, Moenchengladbach have found a vel way of allowing m to be seen by players -- for 19 euros ($21), Gladbach fans can buy a cardboard cut-out of mselves which will be placed on terraces of Borussia Stadium. 

Im credits: AP