Frauen Bundesliga, 3. Liga set to resume action next weekend

The Frauen Bundesliga and 3. Liga finally both have set return dates! They’re both set to resume action next weekend, May 29th and 30th, respectively. This comes three weeks after the Bundesliga and 2. Liga resumed competitive matches after the DFL’s plan had been green lit by Angela Merkel and appropriate health officials in the German government.

Per the DFB’s web site, the Frauen Bundesliga will restart next weekend as well as matches for the DFB Women’s Cup. They had accepted the newly formed schedule on May 11th in a remote general meeting between all appropriate representatives, so it was just a matter of time before matches actually resumed. The league will be following the same guidelines put into place by the DFL for the Bundesliga, 2. Liga, and 3. Liga. The only real differences are presided on the basis that most of the venues are smaller in the Frauen Bundesliga than in the Bundesliga or 2. Liga, so some of the organizational nuances will be slightly different; amount of personnel allowed in stands, technical areas, and mixed zones. The Women’s DFB Cup final is scheduled to take place of July 4th

The Bayern Frauen’s first match of the restart is against Hoffenheim and they’re still 2nd in the table behind the VfL Wolfsburg Frauen, who a reigning champions and show no signs of slowing down.

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DFB President Fritz Keller expressed his gratitude for the Frauen Bundesliga clubs showing unity and solidarity to make the season’s restart possible: ”I am very happy that the clubs of the Frauen Bundesliga have expressed their unity in favor of continuing the season. This is exactly what we need in the crisis. The return of the Frauen Bundesliga is another important step towards a kind of normality in football as well as in society. The Frauen Bundesliga is thus taking on a pioneering role in international women’s football.”

Per kicker, the 3. Liga’s schedule will be truncated to the extent that there will be a cluster of English weeks to finish out the remaining 11 fixtures for each team, which was decided by the DFB. The season is currently scheduled to finish by July 4th and the relegation matches are set to be played by July 11th, but the DFB is well aware that deviations could become necessary if additional quarantine measures need to take place at any given point. It’s also understood that if the home team for any given fixture does not readily have their stadium available, they will have to play at another venue. For example, on May 31st, Carl Zeiss Jena has to face Chemnitzer FC at a neutral venue because they cannot use their own until June 5th.

The 3. Liga becomes the first 3rd division in the footballing world to resume matches, which is yet another testament to how well Germany has handled the coronavirus outbreak as a whole. Tom Eilers, chairman of the 3rd league committee expressed his delight at the league’s green-lit resumption: “The clubs in the 3rd division now have a similar lead up to the first game as the Bundesliga and second division clubs before. Of course, resuming play is a challenge for all third division teams under the current conditions. But it is also a great opportunity because we are the first 3rd league in the world to play football again.”

Bayern’s reserves start off their restart with a match against Ingolstadt, followed by matches against Preussen Munster and Braunsweig within the span of just 7 days.

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