Germany’s Bundesliga is set to be the first major European football league to restart after Chancellor Angela Merkel flashed the green light on Wednesday for its resumption in the second half of May.

Merkel’s announcement had been widely expected as part of measures to begin easing the country’s lockdown aimed at halting the spread of the coronavirus.

Sources said the government and federal states had also agreed that the second division, the 2. Bundesliga, could restart matches.

All matches would have to be played without fans, sources familiar with the talks said, adding that the German soccer league (DFL) will decide on the exact dates for the resumption of the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga.

The league has been on hold since mid-March because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The DFL is due to hold an assembly with its 36 member-clubs on Thursday followed by a news conference.

The Bundesliga’s progress will be keenly watched by other leagues hoping to resume their seasons.

Two of Germany’s neighbours, the Netherlands and France, have ended their season, and a third, Switzerland, is unsure of the way forward.

Bundesliga clubs will undergo a mandatory quarantine period in isolated training camps as they step up their preparations to continue the league. So far, the clubs have been practising socially-distanced training in groups ranging from two to six players. However, some teams such as RB Leipzig have this week returned to full training, seen as a key step in being able to resume the league with sporting integrity.

Germany’s superior testing capacity has been one of the key factors in its preparations to resume football, but the push to restart the sport hasn’t been without problems.

On Monday, the DFL said it had registered 10 positive cases in a blanket test of 1,724 players and staff at its 36 first and second division clubs, a finding described as “absolutely within the limits of expectations” by the chairman of the German Football Association’s Medical Commission.

But questions were raised after Cologne continued with its training despite three persons at the club being among the 10 who tested positive for coronavirus last week and Hertha Berlin forward Salomon Kalou was suspended after ignoring social distancing measures at the club’s training ground.

The majority of Bundesliga clubs have nine matches left to play — Eintracht Frankfurt and Werder Bremen have 10 — with leaders Bayern Munich four points ahead of Borussia Dortmund in second.