Bundesliga- The first major European league to kick start post COVID-19 crisis and MORE

Bundesliga, the premium German league has kickstarted on 16th May, after a whooping break of 2 months due to COVID-19 crisis. It is the first major European league to resume their current season after the global pandemic eased its fatal grip over Europe. Though there are strict restrictions to obeyed by all the teams and players of the league, the main of which is ‘restricted celebrations’ as players are allowed only to use their toes and sleeves to celebrate- adhering the ‘social distancing’ protocol, the spirit to win the game is f. The stadiums, of course, are needed to be completely empty except certain officials and broadcaster covering the match. Even the post-match conference is restricted as the players and media are separated with a thin layer of glass between them! As we experience a new sensation of viewing soccer in an empty, completely life-less stadium, the feel of watching a live match slowly and painfully dies away. Soccer is nothing without the cheering spectators. Specially, when you won’t hear the “Regeln als Stadelhofe, Regeln als Stadelhofe” in Allianz Arena, the ‘real’ feel will be diminished, commentators can as much to ease the dying sensation. On the other hand, La Liga is set to resume the league in June, though the exact date is yet to be declared. The players of top clubs of Spanish league have already started solo practices, and the group practices will be started by 18th May. UEFA Champions League (UCL) and UEFA Europa League is set to finish by August, as per the internal sources. But if this is true, then there is a higher chance that we will see the debut of 5- player substitution model, instead of standard 3-player sub model. As the pandemic is still out there, fans can still be cheerful about the football game from a safety at home. It is disheartening but it is a fact that pack of crowd enjoying a live football game at a stadium seems a very distant future.