The Government does not see "opportune" the return of the public to football

The Minister of Health, Carolina Darias, said this Wednesday that "it is not appropriate, it is not appropriate and it is not convenient" that the final of the Copa del Rey on April 3 in Seville, between Real Sociedad and Athletic celebrate with the public, as the Spanish federation planned to study this Thursday, together with the Junta de Andalucía, the clubs and the CSD.

The president of LaLiga, Javier Tebas, had reactivated the hopes of football clubs to receive an audience in the stadiums before the end of the season, while the debate on the presence of spectators in the two pending finals has recovered of the Copa del Rey, organized by the Federation: Real Sociedad-Athletic, on April 3, and Athletic-Barcelona, ​​on April 17, both in La Cartuja in Seville.

The debate also affects the Eurocup, which has three matches in the first phase and one in the round of 16 scheduled for June at the San Mamés stadium in Bilbao.

Tebas reopened the expectations of the clubs, very punished in their finances by the empty stadiums, this Wednesday morning: "We hope that in the third week of April we can begin to have a percentage in the stadiums," he said.

“If the circumstances arise, yes.

We are already prepared.

We would have been there for months, but there are circumstances that we cannot control ”.

The poor evolution of the pandemic data as of the autumn was delaying an expectation that even led Real Madrid last summer to reinstall the grass at the Santiago Bernabéu under construction, in case the public returned before the end of the year.

But already in February, after the third wave driven by Christmas, he raised it again.

However, the improvement in the data for these weeks, which has placed the cumulative incidence in Spain below 150 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, led Thebes to publicly express intentions that it has been talking about in recent years. weeks with the Higher Sports Council (CSD), which retains the competence to allow or prohibit the public in national professional competitions, LaLiga and the ACB.

Sources of the body chaired by Irene Lozano, however, insist on pointing out that for now the priority remains to control that Easter does not trigger a fourth wave, and then review the evolution of the data to make a decision.

Shortly after the demonstrations in Thebes, the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), chaired by Luis Rubiales, summoned the clubs participating in the two pending Cup finals, the CSD and the Junta for this Thursday at 4:00 p.m. of Andalusia to deal with aspects related to the organization of these meetings, in particular the presence of the public.

Since last year's final among Basque clubs was postponed, Rubiales has always stated that his intention was for it to be played with the public, and that remains his intention, while also insisting that health safety must prevail.

In the Copa del Rey, the powers to determine whether there is an audience or not are held by the autonomous communities, so today the data observed by the Andalusian Ministry of Health will be addressed in a special way.

In any case, the spokesman for the Basque Government, Bingen Zupiria, was against admitting spectators to the Real Sociedad-Athletic final on Wednesday, scheduled on a date on which travel between autonomous communities will be prohibited: “It doesn't seem like the best time to invite the public to attend a football match when we are asking people not to crowd together and not meet at home with family units that do not usually live together, and we are asking the population to take extra protection measures ”.

The Basque Government has another important decision pending for the future of the Eurocopa matches scheduled in Bilbao, over which it has health powers.

UEFA wants to know before April 7 if it will allow spectators in June.

According to sources familiar with the conversations with the central government, the Basque executive is inclined to allow it, but is also pending on the evolution of the data.

UEFA plans to bring Eurocup matches that cannot be held with the public in their original location to other countries.

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