Bundesliga will not survive financial impact of not playing football, asserts Hans-Joachim Watzke

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused havoc across the world and the crisis has impacted sport across all avenues. It has seen the Olympics pushed by a year for the first time since World War 2, it has forced the Euros (both men and women) and the Copa America among others postponed. This alone has caused serious financial problems but the lack of football across Europe and the world has caused even more issues for football clubs.

The global pandemic forced the Bundesliga to be postponed last month but there are still lingering hopes that the league could be staged behind closed doors. That’s what reports and chiefs have confirmed with them aiming at a May 9th restart date. But Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has urged the league to speed things up. Watzke revealed that he’s concerned about the feasibility of the league and believes that if it doesn’t restart then the Bundesliga could go under.

"If we don't play in the next few months, all of Bundesliga will go under and then there wouldn't be a league in the way we know it. Of course, many fans say: 'There's no desire for it, it's not on television', that is perfectly clear, but it's about saving football! We are doing all we can to get back to work, we don't want any special treatment, definitely not, but we don't want to be at a disadvantage either," Watzke told Sky TV.

"Football can play a relevant role in society, but that's not the question, we have to do all we can to avoid that someone says football has special treatment. We don't want to start with a special position, but, again, you can't compare football with other more popular sports, we want to do our jobs."