Games without spectators remain until October

After positive signals, the hopes of football are disappointed by politics: spectators will be excluded until at least the end of October. Only then could there be small steps.

Dhe gates of the Bundesliga remain closed. When the new season begins on September 18, spectators will still not be allowed into the stadiums. Major events at which contact tracking and compliance with hygiene regulations are not considered possible are prohibited until the end of 2020. That was decided by the Chancellor’s conference with the 16 Prime Ministers on Thursday. A working group at the level of the heads of the state chancelleries is to develop a general ruling for sports events by the end of October, which could be the basis for football with a certain number of spectators to take place again afterwards, possibly also other sports. But until October 31, football games in Germany are still only possible as ghost games. This affects the first six match days of the first and second leagues in football.

The resolution proposal for the conference said that the ban on major events, which was previously limited to the end of October, should be extended until at least December 31, 2020. So it was. In the result of the telephone conference between the Chancellor and the heads of government of the federal states, item 14 now literally states: “Major events at which contact tracking and compliance with hygiene rules are not possible should not take place at least until the end of December 2020.” The Bundesliga clubs believe they can meet the requirements with their concept. However, this variant did not apply to the Bundesliga on Thursday.