The clubs in the Bundesliga and other German professional leagues will have to do without a large number of fans for the time being.

During their consultations on Monday, the federal and state governments ruled out easing corona requirements in view of the increasing infections, but did not tighten the measures either.

This means that the professional leagues in football, handball, basketball or ice hockey are largely ghost games.

Criticism of the lack of a timely perspective for the return of the fans came from football in particular.

In terms of professional sport as a whole, it would have been important "to reach agreement now on differentiated scenarios based on the respective pandemic situation, with a view to the admission of fans," said the new managing director of the German Football League (DFL). Donata Hops, in an opinion.

"In this way, clubs and leagues would at least have some planning security and a perspective in a situation that was also challenging for them."

Borussia Dortmund's managing director Hans-Joachim Watzke was even clearer.

He also does not rule out legal action.

"We will take a close look at the decisions of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia and check whether we can have them checked in an urgent procedure," he told the German Press Agency.

"Locked out in the open air"

It was "bitter that after two years the majority of MPK participants were only thinking about bans and not also about a minimum of possibilities and logical decisions," he explained.

“Almost three quarters of Germans are vaccinated.

There have been sufficient vaccination offers for every single citizen in this country for months," Watzke continued.

In the meantime, one would also know more about Omikron.

“Nevertheless, we sometimes allow almost 90 percent of the capacity indoors and only 750 people in outdoor stadiums.

People are locked out in the open air," he said.

"That's not proportionate, that's not science either, nobody understands that anymore."

One must remain cautious, however, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) had said shortly before after the consultations with the Prime Ministers of the federal states.

It is still unclear how the pandemic will develop.

The necessary decisions will be made if necessary.

“But for now, it’s important to stay the course!”

Politicians did not give the clubs any hope of an early relaxation.

"The federal and state governments will develop opening perspectives for the moment when an overload of the health system can be ruled out," said the published decision paper more generally.

Because of the more contagious virus variant Omicron, however, this is not foreseeable.

Before the meeting of the federal and state governments, the most important German professional leagues from football, handball, basketball and ice hockey had written to the Chancellery and the Prime Ministers demanding an end to blanket bans.

From the beginning of December there was a maximum of 15,000 fans before the decision to exclude fans was taken at the last summit on December 21st.

The heads of state at least agreed on Monday that the state and senate chancelleries should agree on a uniform regulation for major national events by February 9th.

Bavaria's Prime Minister and CSU boss Markus Söder had recently campaigned for spectators to be allowed back into professional sports soon and, if necessary, announced that Bavaria would go it alone.

There are currently different maximum limits for the admission of spectators in the states: In Bavaria, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Thuringia, no fans are currently allowed in the arenas. On the other hand, the third-division leaders 1. FC Magdeburg played last Sunday against TSV Havelse in front of 13,385 spectators. This was allowed by the regulation in Saxony-Anhalt, according to which the stadiums can be filled up to 50 percent.

There are always complaints that football has special rights in Germany, said BVB boss Watzke: “The opposite is the case. Football is falling victim to symbolic politics.” DFL boss Donata Hopfen sees it similarly, but she was more diplomatic. "It is still incomprehensible that professional sport is currently in many places objectively worse off than other areas of life," she said. "We assume that concrete solutions will be available by February 9th - and we are happy to work on them."

Oliver Kahn from FC Bayern Munich is now hoping for an end to the ghost games after signals from Prime Minister Markus Söder.

At the federal-state summit, Söder announced that he “wanted to make adjustments to the corona measures.

I expressly welcome that, ”said the Bavarian CEO on Monday evening of the German Press Agency.

“We have to find sensible solutions for all areas of life, including sport.

I very much hope that the Bavarian cabinet will discuss possibilities and opportunities at its meeting on Tuesday - and make the appropriate decisions."

After the Corona consultations by the federal and state governments, Söder had renewed his commitment to loosening sports and cultural events in Bavaria.

More viewers will be allowed in both areas, said Söder on Monday evening on BR television - each under 2G plus conditions and with a mask requirement.

The cabinet wants to decide on the details this Tuesday.

Söder left it open whether and for which professional leagues this should apply.

In Bavaria, the Bundesliga teams have been playing in front of empty ranks again since the beginning of December.

The federal and state governments had decided not to open the football stadiums to spectators during the consultations.