Corona: Bavaria allows up to 10,000 spectators again

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Joshua Kimmich no longer has to play in front of empty stands in Munich

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Andreas Schaad / AP

Prime Minister Markus Söder had already announced relaxation for sport in Bavaria on Monday.

Now the cabinet in Munich has followed him, and from Thursday spectators will be allowed back into the stadiums and halls of the professional leagues.

According to this, a capacity utilization of up to 25 percent is possible - but with a capped number of visitors of a maximum of 10,000.

This is the result of the cabinet meeting.

In the past few months, no fans were allowed in the arenas in Bavaria.

"It's not quite fair that we have 2,000 people in the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, and that doesn't work anywhere else," Söder said on Monday evening in the ARD Tagesthemen.

He criticized the different capacity utilization in the federal states, but Bavaria is now also going its own way.

"So if it does, it has to be reasonable," said Söder and presented with his state.

Watzke has legal steps clarified

At the federal-state conference on Monday, no changes were made to sporting events.

As a result, Hans-Joachim Watzke, managing director of Bundesliga soccer club Borussia Dortmund and chairman of the supervisory board of the German Football League (DFL), announced that legal steps would be examined.

On February 9th, the federal and state level should be discussed again, until then the audience question should be clarified uniformly.

The DFL only wants to remain calm until then – but then they could switch to a confrontational course.

It is “still incomprehensible that professional sport is currently objectively worse off than other areas of life in many areas,” said DFL boss Donata Hopfen: “We assume that concrete solutions will be available by February 9th – and we are happy to do so to work on it.«

The manager of the German volleyball champion Berlin Volleys, Kaweh Niroomand, made a similar statement.

A certain hardness is shown towards the sport, which is not justified at all.

"Even with 10,000 spectators, there is no danger on the access routes because we now have enough instruments such as masks and distance rules and many are also vaccinated, so the argument is pointless," said the 69-year-old.

Niroomand is therefore happy that Berlin is going its own way, with up to 2,000 people attending indoor sports and up to 3,000 people attending outdoor events.

"In our hall, the spectators are boosted and safer with a mask than when I go shopping or to the pharmacy," said Niroomand.

Handball players can wait until February 9th

The Handball Bundesliga (HBL) is currently on a break due to the European Championship, which ends on February 9th.

"We see a major situation that endangers sport as a whole, which also represents unequal treatment compared to many other areas," said Managing Director Frank Bohmann.

"All sports leagues have proven that they have organized their events extremely responsibly and without any danger to spectators," said Bohmann.

Due to the 2G or 2G Plus conditions, “the vulnerable target groups to be protected would not expose themselves to any danger”.

krä/dpa/sid