Berlin (dpa) – According to a survey, the majority of Germans are in favor of ghost games in the Bundesliga until the end of the season.
In view of the current Corona situation, 61 percent of German citizens do not want spectators to be allowed in the arenas again until the last match day in May, according to a representative survey by the opinion research institute YouGov on behalf of the German Press Agency. Before the consultations between Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) and the country chiefs on how to proceed in the pandemic on Wednesday, only 23 percent of those surveyed were in favor of opening the stadium gates to fans again soon.
At the end of October of the previous year, the federal and state governments decided to completely exclude fans again in view of the increasing number of corona cases. Since then, the Bundesliga, like all other professional leagues, has played in front of empty ranks again. “We hope that the measures adopted will have a quick and lasting effect on society as a whole,” said a statement from the German Football League at the time. But in view of the threatening number of new infections and deaths in connection with the corona virus, the lockdown had been extended several times.
Bayern Munich’s CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge recently underlined the longing for filled arenas in the ZDF “Sportstudio”. “We are all tense in our country,” said Rummenigge. “It’s not that easy, even for football.” The new Hertha boss Carsten Schmidt, meanwhile, is already preparing to be able to welcome fans again to the Berlin Olympic Stadium in the next season at the end of August. He was “very much in agreement” with the policy of the federal government and had “great confidence” in the decisions, emphasized Schmidt recently in “Bild am Sonntag”.
Most recently, the German Football League, together with other organizations from sport and culture, supported a concept that should enable spectators to return under strict infection protection and hygiene measures. The guideline developed by 20 experts and scientists over the past two months is divided into three areas: a basic concept with a capacity utilization of up to 40 percent, a special concept with a capacity utilization of up to 80 percent and a test concept for 100 percent full capacity utilization. A distinction is made between indoor and outdoor events.
“When is a question that politicians are welcome to discuss with us. We think that it will be possible to get started soon. But how is more important, ”said hygiene expert and co-author Florian Kainzinger. Leading intensive care physicians had spoken out in favor of re-admitting fans under study conditions. From this, knowledge about the spread of corona at major events should be drawn.
In the previous year, professional sport was presented with comprehensive concepts. In the Bundesliga, a number of games were played in front of a few thousand spectators in late summer and autumn.
It is still completely open whether spectators will be able to attend the European Championship games planned for June in Munich. “We are working on many scenarios. From not a single fan to the full capacity of the stadium, ”said Philipp Lahm, also chief organizer of the 2024 European Championship at the German Football Association, most recently the“ Augsburger Allgemeine ”. The three group games of the German national team against world champions France (June 15), defending champions Portugal (June 19) and co-hosts Hungary (June 23) as well as a quarter-finals (July 2) are scheduled in Munich.
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