By Florian Lütticke and Lars Reinefeld, dpa
Munich (dpa) – Germany’s Bundesliga was the first major football league to restart after a coronavirus-related suspension, and now the nation’s basketball league is a similar trailblazer for indoor sport.
While handball, volleyball and ice hockey all abandoned their seasons, the basketball Bundesliga decided to continue with 10 of its 17 teams in a tournament format in Munich between Saturday and June 28.
Authorities in Bavaria have given the green light for the 35-match tournament behind closed doors, with all 10 teams heading into strict isolation in one hotel for the duration, and everyone having undergone two tests for Covid-19.
All matches are played in the Audi Dome, home of two-time reigning champions Bayern Munich who were leading the way when the regular season was abandoned.
They are all to be streamed live on the German Telekom platform, and Munich president Herbert Hainer says the tournament is a huge opportunity for the sport that normally gets little attention in the country.
“Over the next four weeks there will only be football and basketball. This a big opportunity for basketball to show what a great sport it is,” Hainer said.
Ten of the 17 Bundesliga clubs agreed to continue with the new format in which they are pitted in two groups of five in a round robin format. The four top teams from each group advance into a two-legged play-off format, with games determimed by aggregate score.
As unique as the format is the whole concept of strict isolation for weeks in which players are even separated from their families.
“We have worked for months to set up the conditions that we can continue playing. I am really curious and looking forward to it a lot,” said Gunnar Woebke, managing director of the Frankfurt-based Fraport Skyliners.
“But I don’t have the faintest idea how it will be.”
Teams have lost players who went back to their respective home countries amid the pandemic but each side has also been allowed to sign two new players, with some picking players from the seven clubs who aren’t completing the season.
The most prominent one is German international point guard Ismet Akpinar who joins Munich from Turkish side Besiktas for the tournament and vowed: “We are playing at home, we are playing in Munich, I want to win titles.”
Bayern are the big favourites just as in football which could promise a big weekend at the end of June in Munich with the football season ending on June 27 and the basketballers a day later.
“We are not playing the competition to finish second,” managing director Marko Pesic said, adding, however, he is not sure whether they really have any kind of home court advantage under the circumstances.
“Is it really a sporting advantage? I don’t know, the empirical values are missing,” he said.
Former champions ALBA Berlin could also factor in as like Bayern they play regularly in Europe and are used to a tight fixture list, with the finalists having to play 10 matches in 23 days.
BBL president Alexander Reil is delighted that the season can be completed in this way.
“I am looking forward to continuing the season. This enables us to crown a worthy German champion in difficult times and let the fans follow their teams, at least from their living rooms,” Reil said.
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