The Handball Bundesliga is preparing for decimated teams or even isolated game cancellations when the season continues at the beginning of February.
“We have to live with the fact that we will also have infected players when we restart. That will be the new normal. We have to come to terms with the virus,” said Frank Bohmann, Managing Director of the Handball Bundesliga (HBL), the German Press Agency .
Since numerous players who were or are still in action at the European Championship are only gradually returning to their clubs, there is an increased risk of infection and failure. Therefore, the HBL has changed its rules. For the first match day after the EM break (February 8/9) and the quarter-finals in the DHB Cup (February 5/6), games can be canceled if six field players or two goalkeepers from a team have the corona virus are infected. After that, the previous rule should apply again, according to which a game can only be canceled if more than 50 percent of the players are not available.
“We plan from week to week in terms of the schedule, the economic aspects, the hygiene concepts, the spectators. It is currently not possible otherwise,” said Bohmann. The HBL management is dissatisfied with the unchanged attitude of politicians to viewer restrictions. “All clubs have 2G and 2G-plus concepts. The vulnerable groups are not in the halls at all,” assured the HBL managing director. “We would like to see a nationwide solution to the viewer question.”