Football in the time of COVID-19: Cardboard fans, more subs, TV telethons and no spitting

Legendary Italian manager Arrigo Sacchi called football "the most important of the unimportant things in life," and its apparently unshakeable centrality to the European way of life was stopped dead as COVID-19 swept across the continent and halted all play. But now, as Europe continues to hope that the pandemic has passed its peak, its various governments and authorities have started to investigate the logistics of restarting top-class football – in a very different format. 

Excepting Scandinavia, most leagues in Europe operate on a winter schedule and as such were nearing the end of their seasons when COVID-19 pulled the curtains. Some national leagues, notably France and the Netherlands, have abandoned the 2019/20 season but others are keen to play to a finish whenever, and however, possible. 

Among the front-runners to be back on the pitch are Switzerland, whose government announced on Wednesday 29 April that professional sports teams can resume play from 8 June, and Germany, whose chancellor Angela Merkel will discuss the possible return of football in a Thursday 30 April conference call with state leaders.  

When it returns, football will look very different. It might not quite be “a whole new ball game,” as Sky’s advertising for the inaugural Premier League season in 1992/93 promised, but it could be substantially different in any number of ways.

No spectators

Firstly, there will be no fans at the stadium – or at least, there shouldn’t be, and clubs will need plans to combat any illegal congregations outside. The last thing authorities want is thousands of people in tight proximity – exactly what the disease needs to keep spreading.

Therefore, the stadiums will be eerily empty, echoing to the shouts of players and managers. Some have suggested permitting reduced numbers of socially-distanced spectators, but this seems highly unlikely until the virus is well under control; experts have suggested such mass gatherings won’t be allowed until well into 2021. 

Dr Nate Favini, medical lead at preventive healthcare service provider Forward, said  “I’d be surprised if we can do it this year – it may be well until 2021 before we let fans into stadiums.” Even that would be gradually scaled up and reliant on regular large-scale testing; a vaccine might arrive first.

A major problem is that the seating arrangements – where they exist: many professional football clubs still have unseated terraced areas for standing fans – aren’t the only areas of close physical contact. Besides the food and drink stalls, almost everybody enters the stadium through tight turnstiles which would be potential transmission hotspots. 

Some clubs are finding ways for the fans to have a presence. In Germany, fans of Borussia Monchengladbach can pay around $20 each to have a lifesize cardboard cutout of themselves propped in the empty stadium: more than 8,000 fans have already done so. 

"The campaign organisers are regularly overrun with orders; we can hardly keep up trying to install them all," said supporters’ representative Thomas Weinmann. "But we're obviously delighted with the overwhelming support it's received."

Footballing telethon

With no chance of attending in person, fans will clamour to watch their heroes on television - and with no chance of televised matches affecting attendances elsewhere, there seems very little point in restricting the numbers of games shown. 

Indeed, with their matchday revenue gone,many clubs are perilously close to bankruptcy and will be desperate to maximize the television coverage, hopefully with much-needed extra money from the TV companies to reflect the increased output. 

How many games will be televised is yet to be decided, but in a world of multichannel digital broadcasting – and the absence of matchgoing fans meaning kick-off times could be spread further throughout each day – we could be looking at virtual footballing telethons with back-to-back games from mid-morning to late at night. (For the record, the latest kick-off recorded in major European football was at five past midnight, when home team Barcelona wanted to move the match to the previous date but visitors Sevilla refused.)

One more thing: although football broadcast rights are highly prized and lavishly expensive, it is thought that governments may push for at least some of the games to be made free-to-air – to discourage fans from gathering to watch them. Again, this is highly contentious and there is much to be discussed, but it’s possible that the games not previously chosen for live broadcast may now be made available for free.

Neutral grounds

Another suggestion is that multiple games are held at regional “hub” venues, to minimize travel for staff, TV crews and medical teams. In England, for example, the FA has offered the use of Wembley in London and the national team training center at St George’s Park in the center of the country. 

Each of these hubs would host several games per day – perhaps as many as three, spaced out from the morning to the evening, as long as there is time for one set of players and staff to leave before the next arrives, with suitable cleaning time in between. 

Solo training on a rota

Before players are ready for matches, these finely-tuned athletes will have to regain fitness under strictly monitored conditions. Last week, Spain’s La Liga drew up a comprehensive four-stage protocol. 

All players and staff members would be tested for both the presence of COVID-19 and immunity to it; players would turn up for training on a strict rota, initially solo and then in small isolated groups. For the final period of preparation, players would be expected to lodge at the training facility.    

As it happens, the protocol was held up anyway this week when Spanish health minister Salvador Illa said elite sports are unlikely to return until the summer and the league put testing has been put on hold because “the resumption of training sessions is going to be delayed.”

Around Europe, some clubs’ players are gradually returning to their training grounds – several in Germany, which is expected to be the first major league to restart, plus Premier League teams Arsenal, Brighton, Sheffield United, Tottenham, West Ham and Wolves – but all under the same strictly isolated terms, and usually only when booked in advance.

Donating testing kits

Italy was the first European country under lockdown, but it wasn’t the first to suspend its top football division. The Swiss Super League was put on hold on 2 March, six days before a memorably chaotic Sunday on which the Italian sports minister attempted to suspend football’s top division Serie A, only for games to continue anyway after an embarrassing hiatus in which players were sent back to the dressing room.    

READ MORE COVID-19 chaos in Italy’s Serie A as ‘suspended’ Serie A plays on

On that day, Italy’s COVID-19 death toll rose to 366; it is now more than 27,000. Understandably, authorities are being very careful about returning to anything like normality – but ‘calcio’ is a widely adored sport in Italy and on Sunday the prime minister Giuseppe Conte permitted professional sports teams to resume training in early May. 

 “I’m passionate for football,” Conte added. “We will try to see if they can continue with the championships that are suspended. We will only reach this conclusion if it can be guaranteed that it is safe.”

In an attempt to avoid criticism over the allocation of resources, the Italian football federation plans to donate five COVID-19 test kits for each one used by clubs. Similarly, the German Bundesliga has offered to pay for $542,000 of testing for social-care workers. 

More substitutes

Once the all-clear is given for football to start, many more matches than usual are expected to be squeezed into a shorter period. To cover for this, football’s world authority FIFA has suggested teams could use up to five substitutes per game - six, if a match goes to extra time. 

"Safety of the players is one of FIFA's main priorities,” said a spokesperson. “One concern is that the higher-than-normal frequency of matches may increase the risk of potential injuries due to a resulting player overload." 

Sterilized balls

To reduce the chance of infection, the Spanish may sterilize their balls - and pitches. Rafael Ramos, president of the national association of football team doctors, said “All the material used, including the pitch and the balls, will be sterilized before and after the game and at half-time.” 

Instead of the ice-hockey tradition of the ‘Zamboni’ resurfacer trundling around the playing area at half-time, football fans (watching at home, of course) might be watching low-level crop-sprayers disinfecting the pitch. 

No cuddling on corners

Ramos also suggested that gameplay could change as a result of the coronavirus. Although football is a contact sport, referees could be instructed to clamp down on unnecessary touching – such as the shirt-pulling and grappling for space that usually happens at free-kicks and corners. 

“Players are not going to have the same contact that they are used to,” said Ramos. “We’re going to see another kind of football – everything will be a bit different. Players will not be holding on to each other at corners.” Referees could even be told to stop players from celebrating goals with excessive hugging. 

No sex – and you can wash your own kit

Meanwhile in Germany, the Bundesliga has already outlined many of the new rules football will have to abide by. Managers and players will have to abide by social distancing, including on the substitutes’ benches, by leaving seats in between each other. And obviously there will be no handshakes before or after the game.

Players will be asked to take their kit home and wash it themselves to avoid contamination, and that won’t be the only intrusion on domesticity: if their partners show symptoms of COVID-19 infection, they are not allowed to kiss or have sex with them. 

Originally published by CGTN Europe, 29 April 2020