UEFA Insist on Fans at Super Cup Match

UEFA Insist on Fans at Super Cup Match

Bayern Munich’s clash with Sevilla in the UEFA Super Cup on Thursday will go ahead with spectators in the ground.

UEFA chiefs had been accused of conducting a ‘human experiment’ by a Hungarian MP by allowing the match in Budapest to be played in front of 14,000 Hungarians as well as 3,000 fans from each club coming into the country.

Socialist Party MP Ildiko Borbely said the footballing body – who are looking for answers as to how coronavirus spreads at mass events – is using the event as ‘medical research’ and her party have repeatedly called on the government to make the match a closed event.

But as confirmed by UEFA earlier this month, the match between last season’s Champions League and Europa League winners is still set to go ahead with fans present, providing they test negative for Covid-19.

The Puskas Arena is set to fill out 30 per cent of its 67,000 capacity for the game despite coronavirus cases rising rapidly in Hungary during the last three weeks, with 100.7 infections per 100,000 inhabitants currently occurring in the capital.

Since September 1, Hungary has been banning Germans from entering the country, but ticket holders will have special permission to enter.

In Germany’s capital Berlin, local rules allow mass events of up to 5,000 people, as shown on Friday evening at the start of the Bundesliga in Union Berlin’s 3-1 defeat to Augsburg.

Bayern themselves were offering free coronavirus tests for their fans who have a ticket for the game, with supporters also not having to quarantine on their return to Germany, provided they have not spent more than 48 hours in Hungary.

The Bundesliga champions – who completed the treble last term by beating PSG in the Champions League final in Lisbon – warmed up for the Super Cup in emphatic fashion with an 8-0 hammering of Schalke on Friday evening.

However, their LaLiga counterparts Sevilla have yet to play competitively this season, with a friendly against Levante last week the only action they have seen since beating Inter Milan in the Europa League final in Cologne last month.

Julen Lopetegui’s men will then kick off their LaLiga campaign at newly-promoted Cadiz early next week.

Related Articles