Bundesliga ready to resume on May 9 but the final decision is up to government

Germany's Bundesliga is set to be the first major European league to resume amid the coronavirus pandemic after the 36 clubs in the top two divisions decided on a May 9 restart.

Matches would continue behind closed doors with a maximum of 322 people allowed in and around stadiums for top-flight Bundesliga matches and 270 for second-tier games.

The final decision on whether the planned resumption will be put into practice will rest, however, with the German Government and state health authorities.  

The German football federation (DFL) has estimated that 25,000 coronavirus tests at around £90 each will be needed to check each player on at least a weekly basis.

DFL CEO Christian Seifert said: "The Bundesliga is ready to resume, no matter whether on May 9 or a later date. But it's not up to us to find a date. The political decision makers decide.

"We have not defined an exact date today. The fact that we are even able to think about resuming games underlines the performance of the German authorities.

"It would be presumptuous for the DFL to name an exact date for the restart."

On the issue of testing, he added: "Professional football would not even consume 0.4 percent of the available test capacity in the country.

"If the result of a test is positive, this is reported to the health department, which then decides whether quarantining the teams is necessary. The players are not classified as a high-risk group. As soon as there are quarantines, it would mean stopping the season."

And on playing behind closed doors: "In the Bundesliga, 98 people are allowed in the interior area of the stadium, another 115 in the grandstand area, that is a maximum of 213 people in the stadium. A maximum of 109 people may be present in the outside area."

Cautioning that Germany will have to live with coronavirus 'for the long haul', Merkel said 'we can't return to life like it was before' as the country's death toll passed 5,000.

But football may resume in a little over two weeks, with the last fixture, between Borussia Monchengladbach and Cologne, played back on March 11. 

The majority of Bundesliga sides have nine matches of the season to complete and the aim is to finish these during May and June.

A draft timetable would see matchday 26 of the season played over the weekend of May 9/10 with the 34th and final matchday on June 27/28.

Two midweek matchdays have been scheduled in June to ensure all the remaining games can be fitted in. 

There is also space in May to fit in the semi-finals of the German Cup, which will see Bayern Munich play Eintracht Frankfurt and fourth-tier Saarbrucken play Bayer Leverkusen.