IFFHS STATISTICS AND NEWS OF THE WEEK 19
Picture : Bate Borisov 2020 makes History
IFFHS STATISTICS AND NEWS OF THE WEEK 19
BUNDESLIGA TO PLAY !
RB Leipzig ready to restart !
The Bundesliga in Germany is set to become Europe's first major football league to resume playing during the coronavirus pandemic with a restart confirmed for this month, it was announced last week.
Germany's government and its federal states have given the green light to start again, with the date due to be decided when the German Football League (DFL) meets for an Ordinary Assembly on Thursday. The earliest possible return date is May 15 with a May 22 start also considered.
The league has nine matchdays remaining, and there is a commitment to finish the season by June 30. Fans will not be allowed into stadiums, with a ban on mass gatherings in Germany until Aug. 31. Bayern Munich lead the Bundesliga by four points. Christian Seifert, chief executive of the DFL, said: "Today's decision is good news for the Bundesliga and the Bundesliga 2. It is associated with a great responsibility for the clubs and their employees to implement the medical and organisational requirements in a disciplined manner."
"Games without spectators are not an ideal solution for anyone. In a crisis threatening the very existence of some clubs, however, it is the only way to keep the leagues in their current form."
"The eyes of Europe and all of the world will be on us," said Germany and FC Bayern’s captain Manuel Neuer .The goalkeeper highlighted the responsibility on German football's shoulders and said it has acted as a role model for society.
Bundesliga teams resumed training in small groups in early April as the DFL worked on plans to bring back the league with a medical concept for training and match operations required by the government and its federal states. Players and staff have been tested for the coronavirus, and in a first wave, 1,724 tests were conducted on all 36 clubs of the upper two tiers late last week. Ten cases of COVID-19 were identified and reported to health authorities. Not all cases were made public, as the DFL asked clubs not to report cases individually. Infected people must isolate, but the DFL's plan does not require full-squad isolation. The league has asked clubs to go into the final part of the season with a squad that can be filled with reserve or under-19 players.
KLARA BUHL NEW SIGNING
Klara Buhl
In a surprise move FC Bayern Munich have secured German international Klara Buhl from SC Freiburg. The rumor was circled through fans for two weeks and this week it confirmed. It is the 4th successive signing for Bayern Munich after Leah Schuller, Marina Hengering ( both from SGS Essen.) and Hanna Glas from Paris Saint Germain.
Born and brought up in Münstertal, Germany, a southern german municipality, Klara joined SC Freiburg in 2013 and debuted for them in the Bundesliga at just age 15 in 2016. Also part of German youth teams, She won 2016 U17 UEFA Championship. Also debuted for the senior team in 2018, and just a year after she played her first Fifa world cup. Considered as one of the most dynamic strikers in Germany, She played 11 matches for the Senior team and scored 7 goals.
Bayern Munich coach Jens Scheuer is happy to have a world class forward in his squad. After all he is also an ex Freiburg coach. Another Bayern players Guilia Gwinn, Laura Benkarth, Carolin Simon and Lina Magull are also happy to get her old friend from her old club. It is not the first time FC Bayern found talents from SC Freiburg. In other words SC Freiburg brings more talents to the nation than any other club !
1000 FOR BATE BORISOV
On May 3s, 2020, as part of Round 7 of the Belarusian league, FC BATE Borisov played their 1000th official match in history. The “yellow-blue” faced Neman Grodno and celebrated a 3:1 victory.
The total balance of the BATE’s official matches is 629 wins, 128 draws and 183 defeats, goal difference 1909-864. The largest number of games took place in the Belarusian league — 705 (648 in Top League, 30 in First League, 27 in Second League). Besides, BATE played 119 matches in the Belarusian Cup, 100 in the Champions League, 60 in the Europa League, 10 in the Belarusian Super Cup, 6 in the Intertoto Cup. It should be noted that only the games that had been actually played were taken into account. The matches cancelled due to non-appearance of an opponent (there were 2 such games in history) were not considered!
The most popular results of the BATE matches are as follows: 1:0 (148 times), 2:0 (105), 2:1 (92), 1:1 (81), 0:0 (69), 3:0 (66), 3:1 (56), 0:1 (49), 4:0 (40), 0:2 (34), 2:2 (33), 1:2 (32), 4:1 (30), 3:2 (21).
The players with the most appearances for BATE are Dmitri Likhtarovich (2002-15) — 427, Vitali Rodionov (2006-17) — 412, Igor Stasevich (2004-10, 2015 - …) — 394, Alexander Volodko (2008-17, 2020-…) — 328, Dmitri Baga (2008-15, 2017-…) — 286, Alexander Yermakovich (1998-2008) — 279.
Throughout the history, BATE has had 7 head coaches: Yuri Puntus (1996-2004) — 310 matches, Igor Kriushenko (2004-07) — 107, Viktor Gancharenko (2007-13) — 284, Alexander Yermakovich (2013-17) — 193, Oleg Dulub (2018) — 16, Alexey Baga (2018-19) — 78, Kirill Alshevski (2020-…) — 11. One more match is credited to Vitali Rogozhkin, who was a caretaker coach in one game during the 2015/16 Belarusian Cup (in that game, the BATE fielded their reserve team where Rogozhkin was a regular coach).
FC BATE Borisov was founded on April 12, 1996. For such a short period of time, the club has become the most titled in Belarus. They are 15-time Belarusian champions (1999, 2002, 2006-18), three-time Belarusian cup winners (2006, 2010, 2015) and seven-time Belarusian Super Cup winners (2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017). BATE is the first and only Belarusian team to have played in the UEFA Champions League group stage. The team from Borisov has already done it five times, (in 2008/09, 2011/12, 2012/13, 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons). Besides, BATE has played in the Europa league group stage four times (2009/10, 2010/11, 2017/18, 2018/19). The team has reached the Europa League Last 32 three times: in 2010/11, 2012/13 and 2018/19.
UNCERTAINTY LOOMS AS CAF DEADLINE TO MEMBER ASSOCIATIONS PASSES.
The Confederation of African Football,CAF, has failed to have all its 54 member associations respect the deadline to decide on the way forward for their various national leagues, either stopping or continuing them. A circular issued by the general secretariat of CAF and sent to the various associations on April 26th required that the members make the decisions latest May 5th. But after that deadline, CAF has still received as yet just a handful of member associations complying amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
The football-governing bodies in Mali and Mauritania have decided to put their seasons on hold. With six playing days to go, they both hope that the Covid-19 pandemic would have eased enough for the championships to resume in September. But then, Mauritania has gone ahead to cancel the season for the U-12, U-13, U-17, U-20, the Women’s league, and the National Cup competitions for the season. While the start of the new season is slated for October, Malians put continuation of their national league for whenever Covid-19 would permit.
Meanwhile, the football league seasons of the following countries have been cancelled: Angola, Burkina Faso, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya, Mauritius, Niger, and Liberia. However, while the Ethiopia federation has decided not to field teams for the African Clubs competitions next year, three others are considering how to participate in them. The Liberia federation is planning to organize play-offs amongst the four best teams on the league before its suspension to obtain representatives for the Champions League and CAF Cup next year. Burkina Faso is cancelling the season but with no team to be relegated. Rather, the leaders on the current standings are declared champions, while two best teams of the inferior league will be admitted to make an 18-team first league next season. And in Niger, last year’s champions will be representing the country in the African continental campaigns.
SPAIN ALSO READY ?
LA LIGA has confirmed that Spain’s footballers will go back to training this week, the first step in a month-long process towards a return to competition. The hope is that First and Second Division games can begin in mid-June. It is not yet clear how competition in the third tier down will be resolved, with a proposal currently in place to play only a set of accelerated play-offs involving the top four rather than any regular season games.
Training grounds will be prepared, disinfected and inspected over the next two days — a process which is already under way — and players will undergo Covid-19 antibody tests before returning.
In the first phase players will work alone, arriving at the facilities already in their kit. There will be no contact with coaching staff or each other. Small group sessions of not more than six players together will begin in the following phase. In the final phase, clubs will eventually be allowed to carry out sessions in which no more than 14 players can participate. In total, the league anticipates that there will be a month of preparation before competition gets under way. In the first phase players will return home daily, but in the final two training stages and after the return to competition clubs will adopt a training camp structure. The start date will be on June 20 and the season will officially finish on July 26. 11 rounds of matches will be played in this period, two in a week. All organised soccer in Spain was suspended in March, along with most leagues and sporting competitions around the world.
BABY GIRL FOR ALEX MORGAN
Alex Morgan, a 30 year old US soccer player who plays for the Orlando pride in the NSWL became a mother for the first time with husband Servando Carrasco, 31, who is also a soccer player in the MLS.
They welcomed their girl, Charlie Elena Carrasco on the 7th of May at 11:30am weighing 8lbs 5oz.
She was selected as part of the IFFHS Women’s Team of the year for 3 consecutive years, 2017, 2018 and 2019.
Alex Morgan is also a 2 time FIFFA Women’s world cup champion as well as an Olympic gold medalist at the 2012 London games.
MLS PLAYERS BACK IN TRAINING
Several MLS teams were back on the training fields on throughout the last part of the week, after the league cleared the start of voluntary individual workouts in line with local public health or governmental policies.
These were the first training sessions held at club facilities since MLS instituted a full team training moratorium following the suspension of league play on MARCH 12 due to Covid-19 pandemic. The moratorium is currently set to run through May 15 and matches are suspended until at least June 8.
Atlanta United were the first MLS team to announce players will be returning to individual workouts, announcing sessions on Wednesday. May 6 and Friday, May 8
Several other MLS teams have also kicked off their individual player workouts, teams such as:
Inter Miami CF and Orlando City SC players began voluntary individual training sessions on Wednesday, May 6
Houston Dynamo, Real Salt Lake and Nashville SC players also returned for voluntary individual workouts on Thursday, May 7
FC Cincinnati returned to training on Friday, May 8
While Colorado Rapids are set to return to individual workouts on Monday, May 11