Restart of the Bundesliga encourages European leagues to follow, says Dortmund official

BERLIN - Restarting the Bundesliga might encourage other European leagues to follow, said Carsten Cramer.

But to impress the world of football hasn't been the driving factor for the country's 36 professional clubs to develop a comprehensive hygiene concept, the Borussia Dortmund COO/CMO told Xinhua in a recent interview.

"The problems of the Bundesliga are similar to the Spanish La Liga or the English Premier League. For all of us, it is important to finish the current season," the 51-year-old commented.

Cramer said other leagues could benefit from the German approach. "The message could be: It makes sense to invest a lot of effort, and it is worthwhile setting up concepts so that domestic leagues can restart."

Cramer reported of the approval and support of UEFA-president Alexander Ceferin.

"There is a lot of pressure on us now, but we feel well prepared as everyone is watching us," the Dortmund official said in advance of the delicate Ruhr-derby against local rival FC Schalke 04 this Saturday afternoon.

The team of coach Lucien Favre attended a specialized training behind closed doors in the club's arena to simulate the atmosphere of so-called ghost games.

All of the remaining nine rounds of matches will be played behind closed doors.

Cramer spoke about the criticism football is currently causing in Germany. Football has to regain trust and confidence among fans the Borussia official said. "We have to accept criticism, as half of the people in Germany are in doubt about the value of a restart," Cramer spoke about having to repair the connection to fans.

"Something between the people and football is going wrong, and procedures of football seem to be responsible for that."

Dortmund marketing director admitted football is a business and is in trouble without income as any big enterprises of other sectors. "But football is our job, and 60 thousand jobs rely on football," he emphasized. He rated the losses for every game behind closed doors at 3 million euros.

Cramer encouraged German football to fight for the chance to continue desperately. "We all know the problems will explode when we fail. And we know: If we make this, we will get out of this stronger than before."

He thanked UEFA to allow national campaigns to run over the usual deadline of June 30, if necessary. "This helps to gain some ground in case of games having to be postponed due to positive infections."

Cramer said European football must get on with it while strictly following the rules by health authorities in every country and region. "I don't think we can postpone the already shifted 2020 Euro again."

He spoke about the tremendous pressure as all eyes are on Germany next weekend. He sees Dortmund ahead of a challenge as they face the Royal Blues without fans.

The Dortmund official said he doesn't expect fans are violating implemented rules. Gatherings near the arena are prohibited as gathering, in general, are forbidden.

"Fans have accepted the situation as they accepted the rules," he said.

The success of the German concept not only depends on the discipline of fans and players but the decisions of the local health authorities. Every one of the 16 federal states is deciding individually on measures.

While in Dresden in the state of Saxony, the entire team was put into quarantine after positive tests caused the Cologne health authorities in Norther-Rhine-Westphalia only to isolate the positively tested performers.

"There is a certain risk in our system; we know that. But we have set up free dates for postponed games, so a positive test is no disaster."