Author:

Ivan László Nagy

On Thursday night the final of the European Super Cup is expected to be held in front of between 16 and 17,000 fans at the Puskás Arena: we observe how the football stadiums remained almost intact in the face of measures related to the coronavirus epidemic.

Only a third of the Bayern Munich and Seville drivers arrive, Gergely Christmas and DK want the door closed, the mayor of Porto, deprived of the match, is boiling, but the final of the European Super Cup is scheduled for Thursday with twenty thousand reserved places at the Puskás Arena.

In June, it turned out that the clash between the Champions League and the Europa League winner would take place in Budapest instead of Porto: according to the justification at the time, Hungary seemed epidemiologically safer for a sporting event where even fans could return to the stadium. The situation looked really encouraging: a new single-digit infected person was registered every day, and football matches were free.

However, as summer approached, it became clear across Europe that the second wave was coming, with restrictions imposed in many places in early September. Sports leagues were forced to pick up where they left off: the new season could only start without fans and with constant and strict controls.

The lack of ticket sales, on the other hand, has brought many teams to the brink of bankruptcy, which is why football clubs and associations are constantly trying to reach some kind of agreement with the authorities. The European Football Association, UEFA, for example, has immediately figured out where to go:

The final of the Budapest Super Cup could easily become a pilot project, the match on September 24 will be the first European Cup match in a long time, where fans will also be able to participate.

The almost constant epidemiological exception

On March 11, a state of emergency was declared in Hungary: the stands were closed the next day and soccer tournaments were suspended from mid-March to mid-May. In the second round after the restart, sporting life came to life so much and the virus fell silent that the fans were allowed to stay in the stadiums following the distance rules, but also back. The planting attempt was so “successful” – we also gained world fame with the Hungarian Cup final held in front of 10,000 spectators – that as of June 18 the restrictions were lifted without further ado, and domestic matches can be attended. No problem since then, although with a full house before the virus. According to statistics, it is hardly necessary to count regularly.

Kispest fans played in the final of the soccer Hungarian Cup in the Budapest Honvéd-Mezőkövesd Zsóry FC match at Puskás Arena on June 3, 2020

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The reopening of the stadiums was particularly interesting because the 500-person limit was maintained for all other events, both indoors and outdoors. When Gergely Gulyás was asked why it was possible to go to a match but not to a concert, the Minister justified her safety by saying that

There is a big difference between a football game and outdoor concerts, music events and that is the consumption of alcohol.

According to Gulyás, soccer spectators do not drink in the stadium and consequently may pay more attention to social distance, although the photos say otherwise. However, the government maintained the restrictions throughout the summer, and even missed the festival season rescheduled for late August.

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When it became clear on August 28 that the state would reintroduce a total border closure due to the escalating epidemic, an exception was immediately made:

The final of the European Super Cup, which took place in Budapest in the summer, is scheduled to take place in front of 20,000 spectators, including 6,000 foreign fans.

According to János Szlávik, chief physician at South Pest Central Hospital, the decision was “steep”, although at that time we could not speak of the number of cases, which had stabilized at the end of September and was around 1,000 per day.

However, as infections increased, so did the voices against decision makers. Bavarian Prime Minister Markus Söder has asked finalist Bayern Munich fans not to travel to Budapest, which is considered epidemiologically dangerous in Germany, and for similar reasons, official fan clubs have withdrawn from the match, thus There will probably be 1,500 Bayern fans in the stadium. Even less did the Sevillians make the trip: the Spanish team made just 500 places out of the 3,000 reserved.

Bayern fans test the Covid in Munich

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In any case, the teams assured their fans that they would provide them with the coronavirus tests necessary to travel to and from Hungary. Since then, Bayern captain Manuel Neuer and German team captain Joachim Löw have also expressed dissatisfaction with the fans’ admission.

Although in theory they will not come into contact with each other inside the stadium, only the body temperature of Hungarian fans will be measured on admission, only a negative test is required for those entering from abroad.

Hvg.hu knows that UEFA has a total of 16-17 thousand spectators: this is just a quarter of the 67,000-seat stadium. And we also know that UEFA is analyzing the impact this could have on admission to international matches in this match.

If we count in this way, maintaining a distance within the stadium may seem feasible, although bathrooms and buffets are still risk factors. It may even be reassuring that now we can hardly count on cases like when the voices of Fradi’s fans were heard at the Groupama Arena while the FTC eliminated Dinamo Zagreb from the BL; or when, like the county’s Ráckeve II printers, which also hosted Ferencváros, close to 2,000 gathered for a Hungarian Cup match, and the joy of being together was seen as the antidote to the virus.

In addition to the epidemiological risks, there is only one icing on the cake that UEFA is being threatened with a lawsuit by the mayor of Porto. The Super Cup was initially moved to a “safer” Budapest for epidemiological reasons, but under the current circumstances, this justification is no longer valid. Rui Moreira could also say that UEFA would say they don’t want to have another final in Portugal after the BL playoffs in Lisbon, but if they don’t get a meaningful response from the federation to their questions, they will take the matter to court.

Stadiums in Europe: reopening is too risky beyond abroad

The responsibility of sporting events in the spread of the coronavirus epidemic emerged relatively quickly. Hundreds and thousands of diseases returned to the Champions League matches in March, and in Italy, for example, Atalanta’s BL march in Bergamo, according to some experts, acted as a “biological bomb” for the Lombardy province, although no direct evidence has emerged since then.

Already on March 17, UEFA decided to postpone the 2020 European Championship until the summer of 2021, it also closed the Champions League, and only in mid-August, the rest of the consecutive knockout phase was held in Lisbon without spectators. Both the BL and EL qualifiers only started on a cutoff system, playing only the last round matches in two rounds.

Stadium locks also have serious economic consequences: in Britain, more than 100 associations have signed a letter to Boris Johnson asking for his financial support to survive. The troops addressed the prime minister after the government announced it would postpone the reopening of the stadiums scheduled for October until 2021 due to a second wave of the coronavirus epidemic.

Meanwhile, the patience of the fans is also wearing thin: in Slovakia, for example, drug addicts will demonstrate to abolish the current limit of 1,000 participants. According to the ultras, “we can stop sports mourners” who ignore not only the culture of the fans but also the financial difficulties of the teams.



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