Football news - Dynamo Dresden's situation proves football's restart is on a knife-edge

DFL (The governing body for the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga) boss Christian Seifert admitted on Friday that even though Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga matches will be restarting on May 16, German football is in a probationary period.

And just three days after German Chancellor Angela Merkel gave hope to football fans that we will be able to watch one of Europe's top leagues on TV, the first major - and to the outside world not that surprising - obstacle has already arrived.

Following the news of Dresden's quarantining on Saturday, Seifert told ZDF's 'Sportstudio' TV show: "There are buffers already placed in the game plan to catch up on any missed games."

How many "buffers" are they going to need?

The hope for organisers who have controversially co-ordinated the resumption of both German leagues is that Dresden's fixtures are the only ones that will need to be rescheduled ahead of the highly-anticipated Matchday 26 on May 16.

An added complication for Dresden is their squad will also not be able to train or have a game under their belt during this period, meaning Dynamo will be at a competitive disadvantage when they do eventually return. Hardly ideal conditions for a side who currently sit rock bottom of 2. Bundesliga.

Then add another layer of confusion to the DFL's original plan. German states have powers to impose their own coronavirus directives and Saxony confirmed after two further tests that the entire Dresden team must now self-isolate.

Which is fair enough as health is obviously far more important than football, but differing protocols across 16 states does not make things any easier for the DFL.

Dresden may have the first of many squads needing to quarantine entirely. From an administrative perspective this may force German football to stop in its entirety at any point as the match schedule becomes too complex to even contemplate recovering.

Which, should that happen, then European football fans can collectively wave goodbye to seeing Premier League or La Liga or Serie A action anytime soon as they all look to be seeing what the "pioneers" are doing first. Germany's movements carry extra weight having been one of the world's leading nations at containing the spread of coronavirus.

So as things stand the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga are going ahead, but don't be shocked if both leagues are forced to postpone again at some point in the near future.

The DFL better have more than a few contingency plans up their sleeves. The football world is watching their every move.