The case of Covid-19 has increased in these past weeks in the world of football, and in League 1 more than anywhere else in the european championships, as the championship resumes in two weeks and a half. Julien Stéphan, the coach of the Tennis Stadium (left), and the technical staff supervise, masks on the face, a game of pre-season 2020-2021. (VINCENT MICHEL / MAXPPP)
Montpellier, Nantes, Strasbourg… The new cases of infections coronaviruses accumulate in the clubs of Ligue 1 in recent weeks, more than in other european championships. The players and coaches have beautiful appear masked in press conference to give the example to their fans, some teams do not comply with the instructions to the letter.
The Racing Club de Strasbourg, nine players are contaminated after having participated in an evening in a dance bar in Geneva. And especially a few days before a friendly match against Montpellier, which, moreover, has not enjoyed. But if one believes the team doctor alsatian François Piétra, the situation could have been much worse. “After what happened, there was internal additional cases, “says–t it. Today, a big part of our young people are asymptomatic, as a lot of young people now. And the few players that develop symptoms, these are symptoms rather banal, low-grade fever, fatigue, and some taste disorders but it has stopped there for the moment.”
In a vacuum, “one can fairly well control”
Since that night, the players of the locals, are quatorzaine, a measure feared also on the side of the Tennis Stadium. “We are very attentive and are asking the players to take maximum precautions”, explains the coach of the club, Julien Stéphan. “We are regularly tested. And each time, we are awaiting the results with impatience, I will not say of fear, but in any case we are very attentive to it because we know the consequences that it can have on the preparation, on the following. When one is in isolation, as is the case in this time course, we can fairly well control things.”
As soon as we come home, it is in direct contact with our families, this is where it has the greatest risk of being affected by the virus.Julien Stéphan, coach of the Stade Rennaisà franceinfo
Less risks by maintaining their physical condition
To the director of the institute for research on biomedicine and epidemiology of sport Jean-François Toussaint, the risk of contamination, however, is not a barrier to the practice of football at the professional level. He believes that the players “should be able to build their future with what are their qualities, their capacity to organize their professional life. All of this is complex at this time, but it also means that beyond the gestures barriers, it is necessary to maintain, there are things that need to be viewed with different eyes. In particular, this herd immunity, which we think that, by maintaining its physical condition and its muscular qualities, it has the best chance currently to avoid having these complications,” says t-it.
UEFA, the body of european football application with leagues and federations, not to postpone the meetings, even when there are a very large number of players tested positive. And consider the absent as of the wounded.
