Germany

Borussia Dortmund’s 2019/20 season is over. Erling Haaland, the 19-year-old phenom who scored 16 goals in his first 18 BVB appearances, is free to do whatever he damn well pleases as a teenager that makes around $170,000 per week. That’s my take as an old poor boy. 

But his dad — as all dads are wont to do — sees it differently.

BERLIN — Top-flight German soccer club Union Berlin is so keen to see its stadium filled with fans once again that it is prepared to pay for coronavirus tests for all staff and 22,012 season ticket holders so that they can safely pack the stands.

Most of the world's stadiums have been all but empty for months since the advent of the new-style coronavirus forced social distancing regulations that prevented the kinds of giant crowd gatherings that lend soccer games their ambiance.

BERLIN — German soccer fans may be able to return to stadiums to cheer on their heroes in national team and Bundesliga matches soon, the German Football Association (DFB) and the German football league (DFL) said on Friday.

The two bodies are working with health authorities on ways to reduce the risk of infection from COVID-19 at matches as well as on the way to and from the stadium.

The number of COVID-19 cases per football league is a question on everyone’s mind these days. The ebb and flow of the virus around the world has left our leagues in different states of recovery.

Here we’ve made a list of the number of COVID-19 cases per football league and the number of COVID-19 cases in their respective regions of the world. 

The list of the number of COVID-19 cases per football league comes in no particular order, but we will save the best for last, so be ready.

FC Augsburg has wasted no time in adding to its squad this summer. The Bavarian side has completed some remarkable business by adding midfielders Daniel Caligiuri from Schalke and Tobias Strobl from Borussia Mönchengladbach, as well as goalkeeper Rafal Gikiewicz from Union Berlin. All three were signed on free transfers as their contracts at their previous clubs were due to expire at the end of June. 

Tobias Strobl
Daniel Caligiuri
Rafał Gikiewicz

Former Germany international Mario Gómez called time on a distinguished career on Sunday after helping VfB Stuttgart secure promotion back to the Bundesliga. 

Gómez, a product of the Stuttgart academy, bids farewell as the fourth-highest goalscorer in club history with 110. In his second full season with the first team back in 2006-07, he scored 14 goals in 25 league appearances to lead the club to its first Bundesliga title in 15 years. 

The Bundesliga should earn some $4.95 billion from domestic broadcast rights for the four years from 2021-22 onwards, the German Football League said on Monday, with Sky awarded the prime package of all Saturday games.

The deals announced on Monday are slightly less lucrative than the existing four-year deal that ends next season. Worth $5.18 billion, that was an 85% jump from the previous agreement.

Football supporters groups from around Europe have criticized attempts to liven up matches in empty stadiums by using artificial crowd noise, describing it as a rebuke to match-going fans.

The fans said that the recent return of football following the coronavirus stoppage, with matches behind closed doors, had shown that supporters were "the lifeblood of the game" and their contribution should be recognized by leagues and clubs.

BERLIN — Borussia Dortmund substitute Erling Haaland headed a stoppage-time winner to give them a 1-0 victory at Fortuna Duesseldorf on Saturday and keep their slim Bundesliga title hopes alive.

Norwegian Haaland scored with the last action of the game to lift second-placed Dortmund to 66 points, with leaders Bayern Munich on 70 before they host Borussia Moenchengladbach later. After the goal, BVB coach Lucien Favre pulled up with an apparenty injury while celebrating.