Starting next Friday, the Frauen-Bundesliga is returning to action. The German top tier will follow in the footsteps of the male version of the competition.
The league is the first return to action following the COVID-19 pandemic. Other major leagues have taken other avenues instead of restarting.
The French and Spanish leagues have been declared over, with Lyon and Barcelona winning the respective titles. The Vrouwen-Eredivisie is now null and void, with an announcement expected soon in regard to the Serie A.
Embed from Getty ImagesThere are only six matchdays left of the Bundesliga season with Wolfsburg sitting pretty on top of the table. It would take something special for Bayern Munich to close the eight-point gap at the summit of the table.
Hoffenheim are just a point behind Bayern and are vying to qualify for the Champions League for the first time.
The relegation fight is much more interesting. USV Jena are set to be relegated after earning just two points all season.
FC Köln are in 11th, just two points behind Duisburg with a game in hand over the team above them.
The return
It wont get any easier for Köln – they face league leaders Wolfsburg in their first game back.
It’ll be the first of two games on Friday, May 29, with the other being a mid-table battle between Frankfurt and SC Sand.
Essen and Jena won’t be competing next weekend, with their matchday 17 encounter being penciled in for June 24.
Embed from Getty ImagesThere’ll be three games next Saturday, with Bayern taking on Hoffenheim in an incredibly important game with major Champions League implications.
Freiburg take on Potsdam and Bayer Leverkusen meet Duisburg to round out the five games that will see the league return.
The DFB Pokal
Not only is the league set to return, the cup competition – the DFB Pokal – is also making a comeback.
We’re already at the quarter-final stage of the tournament but being at the business end of the competition will ensure some high-quality games.
The four quarter-finals are:
Potsdam vs Essen
Guttersloh vs Wolfsburg
Bayer Leverkusen vs Hoffenheim
Arminia Bielefeld vs SC Sand
These matches will be played a week Tuesday, with all four being done by Wednesday, June 3.
The semi-finals will take place the week after. FC Köln will host the final on July 4.
COVID provisions
Similar to the men’s version of the Bundesliga, the Frauen-Bundesliga will use the fund set up by Champions League clubs to pay for their testing kits.
Whereas the Bundesliga is allowing 322 people in the stadium per game, the Frauen-Bundesliga will see a maximum capacity of 128 in the smaller grounds that female teams use.
This includes both teams, ten journalists, police, stewards and TV crews.
TV
There is no information currently on whether or not games will be broadcast internationally.
At least one game of the matchday 17 fixtures will be broadcast in Germany. Radio Leipzig confirmed that Eurosport and MagentaSport will both show SC Sand vs Frankfurt on Friday.
READ MORE: Exclusive: Sarah Essam on Her Unique Role as a Female Arab Athlete
Hopefully there will be a similar push in Germany to get as many of these games broadcast as possible after record-breaking numbers for Bundesliga viewing last weekend.
Full matchday 17 fixtures
(All times are BST)
Friday, May 29
VfL Wolfsburg vs FC Köln – 13:00
Frankfurt vs SC Sand – 18:15
Saturday, May 30
Bayern Munich vs Hoffenheim – 12:00
Freiburg vs Potsdam – 12:00
Bayer Leverkusen vs Duisburg – 13:00
