German football facing billion-euro losses

BERLIN • After a year of games behind closed doors, Bundesliga clubs are contemplating losses of a "billion euros" as players and coaches wonder when German football grounds will be full again in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis.

"They feel like training games at times," Freiburg striker Nils Petersen said of matches.

Borussia Monchengladbach's 2-1 win over Cologne on March 11 of last year was the first Bundesliga game played without spectators.

Two days later, all league matches were stopped as Germany went into lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

After a 21/2-month hiatus, the league resumed in May with the last nine rounds of matches void of fans so the 2019-20 season could be finished. Since then, the stadiums in Germany's top flight have largely remained empty.

A few thousand fans were allowed in selected grounds for a number of matches at the start of this season, but a second wave of virus infections put paid to that experiment. With a second lockdown in place since November, the 36 clubs in Germany's top-two leagues are counting the financial cost of lost match-day revenue with their combined turnover plummeting by €300 million (S$482.1 million) in 2019-20 compared to the previous season.

"This is just the beginning," warned Christian Seifert, the chief executive of the German Football League.

With no end to the current lockdown in sight, Germany's top clubs are forecast to lose a billion euros this season compared to figures before the crisis.

"It's no longer the same job as it was before the pandemic," said Werder Bremen coach Florian Kohfeldt of games, dubbed geisterspiele or ghost games in German.

"I can't get used to it and I don't want to get used to it.

"What makes you so enjoy doing your job is totally missing the emotions in the stadium."

Union Berlin goalkeeper Andreas Luthe said: "Our sport has become colder. More objective."

But German football enjoys the privileged position of being able to continue when the lockdown has forced many business to close.

"We are allowed to practise our profession. Many others cannot do that," Augsburg coach Heiko Herrlich told magazine Kicker.

There has also been an impact on the pitch. Without home fans cheering their team on, the hosts have won only a third of Bundesliga matches over the last year, according to Kicker. In the 12 months ended March last year, just under half of matches were won by the home team.

"Our work has changed", said Kohfeldt. "Whether you play away or at home, it has neutralised itself to a certain extent."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE