European leagues move at different speeds toward restart

As European leagues prepare to return from the enforced coronavirus break, screening tests are revealing cases in various championships, although, as yet, not calling into question plans to resume playing.

Germany still plans to be the first of the five "big" leagues ahead of Spain, England and Italy - France has declared its season over - to kick off on May 16, behind closed doors, despite the sobering events at Dynamo Dresden.

The second-tier club were ordered to self-isolate for 14 days on Saturday after testing uncovered two fresh coronavirus cases.

"It's not a reason to call the entire season into question," league CEO Christian Seifert told German broadcaster ZDF.

"It was always clear to me that this could happen. We're at the very beginning of the restart." Seifert warned, however, that further coronavirus cases could jeopardise plans to end the season by June 30.

"It can reach a scale where it's not feasible anymore," he said. "It would depend on how much time there is left to finish the season." Matches will be played behind closed doors and with a maximum number of 300 people, including both teams, allowed at each game.

In the run-up to the restart, all teams must go into a one-week quarantine training camp.

The German league said on Thursday that 1,724 tests at the 36 clubs in the top two divisions conducted in two rounds yielded 10 positives in the first batch and two more in the second.

Those include two players and a fitness coach at Cologne and a player and a physiotherapist at Borussia Moenchengladbach, but only the individuals concerned were placed in quarantine and the teams continued training.

- Three cases in Brighton, five in Spain - ==========================================
"Despite all of the measures that we've been taking over the past few weeks, where the players haven't been involved in any significant training at all, we've still suffered another player testing positive for the virus."
They will be allowed to rejoin their club's training programme only after two consecutive negative test results
- Cases in Italy and Portugal - ===============================