berlin the german football league said tuesday it accepted the governments refusal to back plans for fans to return when the bundesliga season starts in midseptemberthe league has always stressed that containing the coronavirus must be a top priority the dfl said in a statementwe therefore respect the position of the federal and state health ministersthe goal should be to strive for a return to normality in all areas of life with targeted concepts appropriate to the respective situationthe hopes of the bundesliga and germanys top clubs were dashed monday when health minister jens spahn said he would not support a fourpoint plan for the partial return of fans when the new season begins on september 18germany was the first of europes major leagues to return to action after the coronavirus shutdown but clubs lose millions of euros in match day revenues for each game played behind closed doorsclubs had hoped senior politicians would back a range of measures including allseater stadiums next season a ban on away fans for the rest of 2020 personalised tickets which can be traced and a ban on alcohol sales at games until octoberhowever both spahn and markus soeder state premier for bavaria said it was too soon to allow fans back into stadiums especially with the rising daily rate of around 1000 new cases of covid19 in germanymoving forward the dfl said that along with the clubs it will prepare in the best possible way for a return of stadium visitors without setting a deadline