The VfL Wolfsburg team takes the train to the Bundesliga game at Bayer Leverkusen – for a large part of the team, however, without the mandatory mask on the train. A WDR reporter who happened to be traveling with him describes the situation in the compartment.
The VfL Wolfsburg team traveled to the Rhineland on Friday (October 21, 2022) together with coach Niko Kovač, where the team met on Saturday afternoon (3:30 p.m., live listen and in the ticker at sportschau.de) in Leverkusen – but for the most part without the FFP2 mask prescribed for long-distance traffic.
A video shows several gamers playing, dozing or chatting on their cell phones without a mask, some with their masks dangling from their ears, others under their chins. The removal of the mask is essentially only permitted for eating and drinking.
WDR reporter observes the situation
A WDR reporter who happened to be traveling with him witnessed how several players reacted to the train attendant’s repeated instructions with collective loud laughter. Micky van de Ven briefly put the mask on his head like a hat.
Paulo Otávio gave his neighbor and goalkeeper Pavao Pervan after his fourth warning by the train attendant (“I’m getting embarrassed to say it…”) laughingly gave the tip that he had to be more careful and only put on the mask for a few seconds before a railway employee came by. The train attendant told WDR: “I don’t find the behavior of the players respectful.”
Club apologizes for behavior
The attempt to get VfL Wolfsburg’s classification of the situation directly on board was unsuccessful. The club responded to WDR request and apologized for the behavior of the team: “We can only apologize and will look into the matter.”