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Sapporo Dome: Football tournament without fans
Photo: Morio Taga / picture alliance / dpa
Two weeks before the start of the Summer Olympics, one thing is certain: the soccer tournament games in Sapporo will also take place without fans.
Hokkaido Prefecture joined the ban on spectators late on Friday evening, following the example of the Olympic city of Tokyo.
Exceptions still apply to a few events outside of the greater Tokyo area.
The six tournament games of the group stage in the Sapporo Dome are now also going on behind closed doors, said Governor Naomichi Suzuki in a written statement: “The decision was made in view of the concerns to protect the safety of our residents.
I ask for understanding."
The marathons and walking competitions, moved to Sapporo due to the heat in Tokyo, also take place in Hokkaido.
The authorities have already asked the population to stay away from public routes.
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In Tokyo, only high dignitaries, officials and sponsor representatives (possibly even with attachments) are allowed to watch the competitions live, fans are not allowed.
Like the capital, the prefectures of Chiba, Saitama and Kanagawa are also affected by the government's corona emergency, which was declared again on Thursday.
More than 95 percent of all competitions take place there.
For the few events that are distributed in the rest of the country, different rules apply.
The baseball, softball and soccer games in Fukushima and Miyagi can attract up to 10,000 spectators.
The same standards also apply to Shizuoka, where cycling takes place.
In Ibaraki only schoolchildren are allowed to go to soccer, in Miyagi only the evening session is open to the public.
On Thursday, Tokyo banned spectators from the stadiums after the fourth state of emergency was declared.
A decision about the Paralympics from August 24th to September 5th is still pending.
The state of emergency applies until August 22nd
abl / sid