‘We want to start playing football like we started up all other areas’

Name: FK Austria Wien
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We are now in the eighth week of the Corona crisis. Tentatively, life begins again, but it still has not reached the normality that was abolished in mid-March. AG board member Markus Kraetschmer leaves no stone unturned to get football started again.

Kraetschmer was guest at Servus TV on Monday evening at “Sport and Talk from Hangar 7” and discussed a possible restart of the Austrian Bundesliga. His urgent appeal: ‘The situation is very precarious; sport and the economy are now in high demand. We have developed a great concept in the past few weeks and were disappointed on Thursday because at first Minister Kogler send a positive signal and then a 14-day quarantine was issued. It’s impossible for us to plan a competition.’

A new attempt is being made this week by the Bundesliga and its clubs to persuade the authorities to start the season with detailed plans. So far, the biggest issue is the question about what happens when a player is tested positive for the corona virus? A 14-day quarantine for all contact persons was requested by the authorities, but from the club's point of view this is impossible.

For a long time, Kraetschmer has been demanding “predictability and perspective” from the authorities. ‘We worked hard to guarantee our liquidity. But at the moment we can't even offer fans a season ticket for the next season because we don't know what will happen if we have a Corona case. Worst case scenario, our entire system breaks down.’

The short-term goal is: ‘We reacted very well as a country when the pandemic broke out, but we now want to start up football as well as the other areas,’ explains the CEO and adds: ‘We have a close test sequence in our concept. Professional football can be a pioneer in all team sports.’

Since scientists constantly remind us that pandemics can occur again and again, it is now a matter of learning from Corona. ‘We now have to create framework conditions and create an economic basis,’ says Kraetschmer, ‘we need sensible decisions based on the existing facts.’

The home exercises have been done, health, hygiene and professionalism around training, games and in everyday life must of course always come first. Discipline has to be a priority in every squad anyway, to what extent ghost games can still influence the infection curve is unclear.