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German high-flying team FC Cologne said on Friday that three people at the club had tested positive for COVID-19, but that they plan to continue training.
In a statement, the Bundesliga side said the entire team and coaching staff were evaluated on Thursday.
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“Three people tested positive, all are symptom free,” the club statement said. “After an evaluation of the cases by the responsible health authorities, the three people who tested positive will be quarantined for 14 days at their home.”
Cologne said they would not confirm any names out of respect for the privacy of the people involved.
While Bundesliga clubs have returned to training, they must wait another week to discover a possible restart of the season after the German government delayed any decision on the league’s resumption on Thursday amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Liquidity-struggling clubs and the league expected the government to give the green light and end a two-month suspension, but Chancellor Angela Merkel has said any decision on whether sports could resume and when it would resume on May 6 .
If German football returns this month, it would surely be weeks before other major European leagues, as the Dutch Eredivisie and French Ligue 1 have already canceled the rest of their seasons.
Tim Meyer, who chairs the German Football League’s working group on coronaviruses, said the positive tests did not undermine the league’s focus.
“We now see in everyday life that our concept recognizes and reduces risks at an early stage,” he said in a statement on the Cologne website.
“We will always be in close contact with the responsible health authorities and medical experts. We are convinced that with our concept, we can enable players to practice their profession with the best possible protection against infection.”
Germany has suffered more than 6,500 coronavirus deaths with more than 162.00 infected people.
Information from Reuters and the Associated Press was used in this story.
