Svante Samuelsson is looking for medical, legal and practical solutions that will allow elite football (all Swedes and 32 clubs) to gradually get started with the competition.

An impossible task given Stefan Löfven's and Anders Tegnell's sharp statements in recent days? Samuelsson does not believe and hope:

- It is an important starting point that we will never do anything that contradicts the authorities' recommendations. At the same time, nobody knows what it looks like there and we have to plan for some kind of opportunity and then we will see if it is feasible, he says.

The quarter-finals of the Swedish Cup are scheduled for June 1 and two weeks later the goal is to have a Swedish premiere.

But how will it be possible to conduct competition matches in four weeks while the corona pandemic sweeps across the country, the healthcare literally goes to its knees and citizens are encouraged to social distance?

- We are developing two protocols, with influences from other European countries. A protocol for how we can responsibly manage our training environment. It is everything from hygiene, who comes and trains or not, how we handle showering, materials and how we keep distance.

- The second protocol concerns how we can start playing matches again in a responsible manner in different phases, says Samuelsson.

TT: How?

- The clubs in allsvenskan and superettan are professionals with good organizations linked to healthcare and logistics. Based on that, we are looking at creating a protocol where we feel we can conduct matches, in the first stage without an audience.

The protocol contains guidelines on how the team transports itself to matches, when the arenas are closed down, which players are considered removable, how the teams arrive at the arenas, which are allowed in, how the warm-up should be, and more.

Next week, Samuelsson expects the 32 clubs to fully agree and establish the contents of the minutes.

- At the next stage, we want to start a dialogue with the authorities and show what opportunities exist in professional elite football to handle this in a wise and responsible way.

- Step one is to start playing training matches without an audience and then gradually be able to play competition matches without an audience with an audience.

TT: Do you consider that it is a realistic goal to play cup quarterfinals on June 1 and have all Swedish premiere 14 days later?

- When we sit and look at our protocols and based on knowledge of our business, we think we have good arguments for it to be realistic. But as I said, it is the authorities that govern and it is based solely on our approval.

TT: If you don't get it?

- Then the date is pushed forward.

Svante Samuelsson sees a great signal value in getting the elite football started in limited form.

- We believe that it helps to create a belief in the future in a fairly simple way, but that should not be underestimated. People can glimpse the light in the tunnel on the other side of the corona by following their favorite team, albeit on television at an initial stage.

- I think it has great value for the whole community and probably it is even more important in June.

ARCHIVE: Djurgården the only club in allsvenskan without layoffs (11 April 2020)

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