Coronavirus to keep fans away from stadiums. Football fans in Germany may have to wait for at least a year before being able to attend matches again.
Experts have warned that it would not be wise to open the stadiums and let fans attend the matches before a vaccine against coronavirus is found.
Gerald Haug, president of the influential Leopoldina science academy, on Monday said football fans will have be patient for a much longer time before they can be permitted back into stadiums.
“It will certainly be many months, but it could also be up to a year and a half,” Haug told public broadcasters ARD.
According to researchers, it could take until at least the end of the year vaccine against coronavirus could be found.
Fans may have to accept resumption of matches behind closed doors since is the only solution to save most clubs from filing for bankruptcy.
By resuming matches behind closed doors, clubs may secure the 750 million euros in television and sponsoring, dpa reported.
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“Football has to manage a balancing act between social responsibility and economic interests and therefore deal with it in a particularly sensitive manner,” Helen Breit from the Our Curve group told dpa on Tuesday.
Fans seem to be ready for closed door matches if this could save clubs from financial problems. Pro Fans spokesman Sig Zelt told dapa that “an understanding for ‘ghost games’ has largely been achieved in the scene” because of the dire financial consequences of an abandoned season.
Coronavirus (COVID-19) continues to spread in Germany at a steady rate. It has now infected 123,016 people in Germany and killed 2,799, a new report by the German disease and epidemic control center, Robert Koch Institute (RKI) shows. The incidence (cases per 100,000) of COVID-19 is highest in Bavaria (252), Baden-Wuerttemberg (222), Saarland (210) and Hamburg (205).
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