Berlin (AFP)

Three members of FC Cologne have tested positive for coronavirus, while the Bundesliga plans to be the first major European championship to resume competition in May.

"The entire Cologne team and management, as well as the backstage staff, were tested on Thursday for the Covid-19. Three people tested positive, all are asymptomatic," FC Cologne said on Friday evening. will not confirm the names "of affected individuals.

According to the website of the daily Bild, it is about two players and a physical trainer.

North Rhine-Westphalia city club's announcement casts a chill for impatient supporters of a resumption of competition, stopping almost all sports combined since mid-March due to the Covid pandemic -19.

The Bundesliga is the most advanced major football championship with a view to resuming competitions: the sports ministers of the Länder - regional states - have considered possible a resumption "mid-May or end of May" and behind closed doors competition. Last week, the German League (DFL) said it was ready for a resumption from May 9, behind closed doors by applying hygiene measures and testing players regularly.

The DFL said on Wednesday that clubs from the German Championship have started screening tests.

According to FC Cologne, "the training can continue as planned, according to the hygiene and infection control measures implemented since April 6 within the group", which should be subjected to subsequent tests, in accordance with protocol implemented by the League.

- "Individual solutions" -

"The health and privacy of the players and staff take precedence over everything else. The previous measures and the strategy of regular testing have shown that we can now react with individual solutions," said FC Cologne director Horst Heldt, in the club press release.

In Germany, considered one of the best European students in the management of coronavirus, the government and the regions adopted on Thursday a catalog of measures to further relieve the pressure of containment. A decision on the Bundesliga could be made on May 6.

The country counted on Thursday 159,119 officially declared cases of new coronavirus for 6,288 deaths.

The situation is far from being as advanced for the other European football championships. It is even final in France where the League announced Thursday the final end of the season, and crowned the Paris SG champion.

In Italy, the European country hardest hit by the Covid-19, the government has cooled Serie A clubs by announcing that collective training could not resume before May 18. This risks postponing the date for the resumption of the competition that has been privileged until then by the authorities. In any case, the objective of a recovery in early June has become untenable.

In Spain, no date for resumption of competition has been set for the hour. May 4 or 11 were mentioned for the return to collective training.

In England, the Premier League is trying to build a "Restart" project (restart) which aims to return to competition on June 8, but in camera and in a limited number of stadiums, according to several media.

© 2020 AFP