Austrian league leaders LASK Linz accused of breaking coronavirus rules
The Austrian Bundesliga says it has been sent multiple videos showing a regular team training session which supposedly took place recently.
Thursday 14 May 2020 18:40, UK
Austrian league leaders LASK Linz have been accused by their rivals of holding training sessions which break coronavirus rules.
The Austrian Bundesliga says it is investigating LASK Linz for breaking rules on training during the coronavirus pandemic - but the club have themselves complained that they have been victims of industrial espionage.
Clubs in Austria are only supposed to hold training for small groups of players under social distancing regulations before full training begins on Friday.
But the league says it has been sent multiple videos showing a regular team training session which supposedly took place recently.
Eleven of the 12 teams in the Austrian Bundesliga said they had been presented with "clear video material" that showed LASK had ignored guidelines which restrict training to small groups of players.
A joint statement from the teams said: "These videos clearly show that the league leaders have disregarded the guidelines for small group training set by the ministry (of sports)."
The clubs said they "dissociated ourselves from this behaviour and will continue to adhere strictly to the government's guidelines. The responsible and safe continuation of the Bundesliga competition remains a top priority".
Red Bull Salzburg commercial director Stephan Reiter says the second-place club is shocked and stunned at LASK's conduct.
"For many months we have been working so hard together. Obviously, not all clubs and individuals are aware of this great responsibility," Salzburg added.
LASK managing director Andreas Protil told the APA news agency that two men had broken into the club's training ground overnight and installed video surveillance cameras, adding that the incident had been reported to the police.
Protil said: "We are shocked that there are obviously third parties who are willing to break into our club premises with criminal energy in order to carry out industrial espionage. The perpetrators were filmed and are now being investigated."
The Austrian government allowed teams to begin training on April 20 under strict rules which restricted them to groups of six.
Football is scheduled to resume in the country with the Austrian Cup final on May 29 before the league starts up again next month.
