Hope mixed with worry and uncertainty as soccer reawakens

VIDEO SHOWS: BAYERN MUNICH TRAINING SESSION, INTERVIEW WITH JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, GEOFF DREHER, RED BULL SALZBURG TRAINING, SOUNDBITES FROM RED BULL SALZBURG SPORTS DIRECTOR, CHRISTOPH FREUND

SHOWS:

MUNICH, GERMANY (APRIL 22, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

1. VARIOUS OF BAYERN MUNICH COACH, HANSI FLICK, TALKING TO PLAYERS ON PITCH AHEAD OF TRAINING SESSION

2. DEFENDER JEROME BOATENG (RIGHT) KICKING BALL BACK TO ASSISTANT COACH IN TRAINING DRILL

3. FLICK WALKING ON TRAINING PITCH

4. TRAINING IN PROGRESS

NEAR BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES (APRIL 22, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, GEOFF DREHER, SAYING: (RESPONDING TO QUESTION WHETHER IT'S VIABLE TO RESTART SPORTS LEAGUES AND SEASON)

"It's difficult to say right now. Everything is rapidly changing from a day-to-day, week-to-week basis and hopefully it will be variable depending on the league and the country that you are playing or with the surrounding communities and taking the expertise form the public health officials if they feel like a transmission is controlled right now, we have a good grip on what the projections look like and we feel that it will be safe for some of those travelling groups to come back together in close contacts. And then you also have to weigh in the input from the medical professionals to say if this does start, do we have the staffing, protection, resources right now to handle potentially an increase in sick individuals as well as the potential other injuries that will occur naturally form playing sports... bringing those two things together and making sure that the community and population at large will not be negatively affected from a potential increase in loosening of the restrictions."

MUNICH, GERMANY (APRIL 22, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

6. VARIOUS OF BAYERN MUNICH FORWARD, THOMAS MUELLER, TRAINING

7. VARIOUS OF MIDFIELDER, THIAGO ALCANTARA TRAINING

NEAR BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, UNITED STATES (APRIL 22, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

8. (SOUNDBITE) (English) JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, GEOFF DREHER, SAYING:

"Before, when this kind of pandemic was on the rise, if players tested positive, everyone was quarantined for kind of that 14-day period, and further tests; so now hopefully with transmission being controlled, lesser risk, they are going to develop those protocols. If (on) the home team, someone gets sick there, what do you do?

9. WHITE FLASH

10. (SOUNDBITE) (English) JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, GEOFF DREHER, SAYING:

"If they (the away team) get sick how are they going to respond there and get back to kind of their home club or location. So that's where kind of what specific test, what the time turnaround is and you have to get the expert opinions on that as well as the players and staff... do they feel safe with that? Are they OK with that return with the potential quarantine and isolation away from friends and family.

11. WHITE FLASH

12. (SOUNDBITE) (English) JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, GEOFF DREHER, SAYING:

"A big question if they feel 'hey one of my team mates got sick or got the virus, am I OK continuing to play? How is that going to affect me, my other team mates?' So weighing those opinions based on kind of the surrounding risks that are associated with it. So it's input from a lot of people and I think why we don't have a lot of ideas about this is because it's not known and we're waiting on these potential protocols because people are still trying to answer these questions. They're difficult."

13. WHITE FLASH

14. (SOUNDBITE) (English) JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, GEOFF DREHER, SAYING:

"The way things are right now it would be safest to quarantine those kind of players and staff for a two-week period before the leagues start, have that available and ample testing and continue at the frequency that you feel is appropriate. Play those games, have those protocols intact and I don't think if it was me personally if I was in that position I don't think I would want to go back to friends and family if I am having those potential exposure points. Obviously that is going to be different for everyone based on your health perspective and kind of family outreach. But I think with what we know now and what's available that would be my opinion to be on the safer side to stay away during that season point till you complete it, get testing, feeling fine, know it's negative to go back to kind of your family or the general community to avoid that peak or potential second wave again."

SALZBURG, AUSTRIA (APRIL 21, 2020) (FC RED BULL SALZBURG HANDOUT - ACCESS ALL)

15. VARIOUS OF RED BULL SALZBURG PLAYERS COMING ONTO PITCH FOR FIRST TRAINING / SOME WEARING MASKS

16. RED BULL SALZBURG COACH, JESSE MARSCH LAUGHING

17. MARSCH AT TRAINING

18. GOALKEEPING COACH, HERBERT ILSANKER COVERING HIS FACE DURING TRAINING

19. PLAYERS TRAINING ON TWO SIDES OF A BARRIER

20. PLAYERS TRAINING

21. VARIOUS OF MARSCH TALKING TO PLAYERS

22. (SOUNDBITE) (German) RED BULL SALZBURG SPORTS DIRECTOR, CHRISTOPH FREUND, SAYING:

"Now it is important to take the next important steps together with the other teams and with the league and to set up working groups and discussion groups. Yesterday we already had some telephone conferences and just now to see how this will all work with the testing and what happens if a player on one of the teams does get infected. Because we need a good concept to be able to play these games in the future and it could be that these games with no public or the virus accompanies us for a long while and we will have to live with this situation and will have to find a way to bring as much normality to the situation as possible and it can't be that if one player, or one accompanying person or a trainer gets the virus that the whole round has to stop, or that things stop again for two or three weeks. We have to find possibilities to keep play alive and we are working intensively on this."

23. VARIOUS OF TEAM TRAINING

24. (SOUNDBITE) (German) RED BULL SALZBURG SPORTS DIRECTOR, CHRISTOPH FREUND, SAYING:

"It is a difficult situation and very clearly also a crisis situation. It is very challenging which makes it even more important that we now all work together to get the ball rolling as quickly as possible. Because our line of work only has a chance to survive if we start playing football again, because only then are we interesting again and people start talking about us again and reporting on us again and that is the most important thing for our sector."

25. MARSCH MOVING BETWEEN TWO SIDES OF PITCH TO WATCH TRAINING

26. TRAINING IN PROGRESS

STORY: Soccer is re-awakening amid the COVID-19 pandemic but the sense of hope at teams which have started training is mixed with worry over whether it might be too soon and the uncertainty of how to keep players safe.

On hold since mid-March, many European leagues are hoping to start up again in the next two or three months, without spectators, and training has begun in Germany and Austria. Yet re-starting remains fraught with difficulties.

The Swiss Football League said a successful re-start, under scientific supervision with a risk management concept, could allow football "to send a signal that it is possible to return to something closer to normality".

Several leagues around the world have produced a medical protocol for training, mostly along similar lines.

These generally involve thorough testing of players to ensure they are not infected and dividing the squads into groups of six, observing social distancing guidelines.

Yet many details for the re-start of competitions, such as whether teams would have to be isolated until the league is finished and what happens if a player tests positive, remain unclear.

As Christoph Freund, sporting director at Austrian champions Salzburg, said on Tuesday: "It can't be that if one player, or one accompanying person or a trainer, gets the virus that the whole round has to stop, or that things stop again for two or three weeks," he said.

Germany's Bundesliga may well be the guinea pig as it is the closest of the major leagues to resuming. Like other leagues, it can only start with a green light from the government.

On Thursday, the Bundesliga said players will be monitored by an appointed team health official and would have regular testing.

An infection to a player will be reported to authorities who will be in charge of any other steps. The team, however, would not be automatically quarantined.

Geoff Dreher, an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said there was not much point in re-starting if a single case resulted in a whole league being stopped again, while other questions also had to be answered.

"If, on the home team, someone gets sick there, what do you do?" he told Reuters. "If it is on the away team and they are travelling, how do they respond and get back to their home location?"

"Are they happy with potential quarantine, with isolation from friends and family... for an extended period of time? That is a big question," he added.

"If one of my team mates got the virus, am I okay to continue to play? It (needs) input from a lot of people and I think the reason we don't have a lot of ideas about this is because people are (still) trying to answer these questions."

There was also the question of whether there was enough staffing and resources to deal with ill and injured players -- a natural risk in soccer.

More than 2.7 million people have been infected by the new coronavirus globally and more than 191,000 have died.

(Production: Tim Hart, Brian Homewood)