FC Cologne confirm three positive coronavirus tests but training continues ahead of Bundesliga return

FC Cologne - who play their home fixtures at RheinEnergieStadion - sat 10th in the Bundesliga when the season was suspended due to coronavirus
Bongarts/Getty Images
George Flood1 May 2020

Three people have tested positive for coronavirus at FC Cologne amid a delay in a decision over a possible resumption date for the 2019-20 Bundesliga season.

Germany's top-flight has been suspended since March due to Covid-19, though teams have gone back to training ahead of a targeted return to action on May 9.

On Thursday, the German government delayed a decision on the Bundesliga's return until next week, with May 16 or May 23 generally now considered as more likely restart dates.

Reports suggested that clubs had now begun testing players and staff ahead of a potential May resumption.

And FC Cologne have now released a statement to confirm that, after all players, coaches and backroom staff were subject to testing on Thursday, three people at the club - none of whom are showing symptoms - had tested positive for Covid-19 and were now in isolation.

Cologne did not confirm the identities of any of those affected "out of respect for privacy".

However, the club did say that group training could continue "according to the hygiene and infection control measures that have been in place since April 6".

"The prerequisite for this is that the relevant group of people are tested further, as stated for in the medical concept of the "Taskforce Sports Medicine/Special Game Operation" from the DFL," read Cologne's statement.

"The procedure was discussed on Friday with the chair of the taskforce, Prof. Dr. med. Tim Meyer, medical director of the Institute for Sports and Preventive Medicine at Saarland University and Prof. Dr. med. Barbara Gärtner, specialist in microbiology and infection epidemiology."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in