The Government stands before UEFA: it will not open stadiums to the public

UEFA is consulting with its 59 associated federations the predisposition of each country to allow public access to the stadiums in the different European competitions. Spain refuses round. The president of the Higher Sports Council (CSD), Irene Lozano, on behalf of the Spanish Government has written a letter to the president of UEFA in which she clearly tells him that, in our country, the presence of fans in stadiums is totally ruled out at least until 2021. “The Government firmly excludes the opening of stadiums to fans and the general public. It is very unlikely that this position will change this year,” says Lozano in the letter sent to Nyon a few hours before the Council of Ministers declared the state of alarm in Madrid.

UEFA wants the public to return to the stadiums little by little. After the organization test in the European Super Cup, in Budapest, in Switzerland they have been encouraged to consult which countries are in a position to allow the presence of fans live. Spain will not authorize it because, as Irene Lozano reminds Ceferin “in our country the contagion rate has reached the average rate of 254 / 100,000 in recent weeks., while the WHO highlights that from a rate of 50 / 100,000 government intervention is required “.

The CSD also remember that there were games in February that were classified by the health authorities as a biological bomb… and to make each professional football match possible, around 300 people are already needed in each stadium. Effectively, one of the main sources of spread of the coronavirus were the Champions League matches prior to confinement, and particularly the tie between Valencia and Atalanta de Bergamo. On the other hand, Irene Lozano maintains since the beginning of the pandemic that “you cannot think of opening stadiums to the public until there is a vaccine or an effective treatment against the coronavirus “, and his position has not changed.

This matter will have a second part, since lhe UEFA intends to allow the public in stadiums in those countries that allow it, even if there are others that do not. This means that, unless the big players in Europe that may be affected are planted, such as Italian or Spanish clubs, there could be qualifying rounds in which the public factor intervenes in one field and not in another, which undoubtedly those disadvantaged teams will denounce as an alteration of the competition.