Soon, Bayer Leverkusen and clubs around Germany might prepare for actual matches and, in the process, become the first major sports league on a pandemic-stricken planet to return from the novel coronavirus shutdown.

“We are really well prepared, for sure, to do it,” Simon Rolfes, Bayer Leverkusen’s sporting director, said Friday. “I hope we proceed or improve every day with our corona situation here in Germany and that politicians can say, ‘Okay, now is the time to get back.’ Hopefully it will be in the near future.”

On Thursday, the German Football League (DFL) announced the top divisions (Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga) are planning to resume their seasons as early as May 9, pending final approval next week from the German government.

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Matches would be played without spectators, players would undergo regular testing, and the number of personnel allowed in and around the stadiums would be capped at a few hundred.

The DFL said testing the players and others would not stress the country’s health system, accounting for 0.4 percent of the weekly testing capacity (818,000).

There are potential complications, however, because an infected player might not test positive right away and could end up spreading the virus to teammates, opponents and family members. Such a situation would threaten to shut down the league again.

The aim is to complete the season — each Bundesliga team has nine matches left on the 34-game schedule — by June 30. Finishing the campaign — and collecting TV revenue — will stave off potential bankruptcy for several clubs, the DFL said.

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German soccer is in position to restart because the country has handled the pandemic better than most, acting early in implementing social distancing regulations and aggressive testing. Germany’s death toll as of Sunday was 5,884; Italy, Spain and France have surpassed 20,000, and the United States is around 54,000.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has begun to reopen the country, with some shops allowed to operate and schools set to resume next month. Large crowds, however, are prohibited until late October.

“Games without spectators are not what we want but at the moment the only thing that seems feasible,” DFL chief executive Christian Seifert said at Thursday’s briefing.

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Resuming the Bundesliga would provide a bit of normalcy to a shaken world, Rolfes said. The league is among the big five circuits in Europe and arguably the second-most popular in the world behind England’s Premier League. (Fox Sports owns U.S. rights to show Bundesliga matches.)

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“It will be a big joy for a lot of people, not only in Germany but around the world,” said Rolfes, 38, a former Leverkusen and German national team midfielder. “Sport, in the end, everybody loves it. It will also be important to society, if they get a little bit of normal life back with sports — Saturday night, big game. It will be very good for a lot of fans.”

Not everyone believes the leagues should resume. Two weeks ago, in a joint message, team supporters’ groups said, “A speedy continuation of the season would be a mockery of the rest of society.”

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If German soccer goes forward, other leagues around the world, weighing whether to resume activity and games, would pay close attention.

“Everyone is looking to Germany for how we handle it, how we prepare, how the games will be hopefully in the future,” Rolfes said. “That is why we spend a lot of time to do everything to be well prepared and very good organized.”

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Germany is home to the largest contingent of U.S. players abroad: Nine are Bundesliga regulars, and seven feature in the second division.

Rolfes said Bayer Leverkusen officials have been in regular contact with their players about the precautions and logistics around resuming the season. For several weeks, the players have been allowed to practice in groups of four — a way to work on fitness but a far cry from the physical demands of a competitive match.

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After a two-month schedule pause, how much time would the players need to reach match levels?

“If you ask the coach, six weeks,” Rolfes said. “I think one to two weeks. They’re in good shape.”

For Bayer Leverkusen, the stakes are high. The club sits fifth in the 18-team standings, one slot out of an automatic berth in the UEFA Champions League next season. Four points separate second and fifth place. Bayern Munich is first, four points ahead of Borussia Dortmund.

The decision whether to play again now rests with the government.