BERLIN, Oct 6 — Hertha Berlin are to insist players and backroom staff who refuse to be vaccinated pay for their own Covid-19 tests in the future, the Bundesliga club confirmed Wednesday.

A club spokesman told AFP subsidiary SID that players or staff who refuse a coronavirus vaccine will soon have to pay for their own PCR testing, which costs around €70 (RM338) each time.

Under German Football League (DFL) rules, players must have a PCR test twice a week, but Hertha have their personnel tested six times every week.

Hertha sports director Fredi Bobic told German daily Bild that "90 per cent” of their playing squad and staff are vaccinated.

Around 82 per cent of all players in the Bundesliga are reportedly vaccinated.

The Hertha squad has already been quarantined twice this year due to outbreaks of the coronavirus.

Hertha Berlin has made a poor start to the Bundesliga season by losing five of their first seven league games. — AFP