Vaccination certificate, proof of recovery or a test result that is negative and not older than 24 hours, plus your ID card or driver's license - and not to forget the ticket that can only be booked online: Eintracht Frankfurt's test match against AS St-Étienne will be on Saturday probably also a dress rehearsal for the fans for what they have to prepare for the Bundesliga season starting in mid-August.

After all, it is not to be expected that football can be watched in the stadium again without restrictions by then, on the contrary.

Nobody can say how the pandemic will develop in the next few weeks.

Helmut Schwan

Head of the regional section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

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Frankfurt is fluctuating these days around an incidence of 35, the value below which a new start with up to 25,000 spectators should be made possible for major sports and cultural events.

The countries agreed on this at the beginning of July, when the curve of new infections with the corona virus had dropped significantly.

At that time the incidence, i.e. the number of infections per 100,000 inhabitants within a week, was 20.4 in Frankfurt, on Wednesday it was 25.5, but the next day it was 37.1.

Meeting of the heads of state chancellery planned

It is uncertain whether the limit of 35 will remain in view of the incidence curve, which has been rising again for three weeks, and the increasing demand that this parameter no longer be as important as before.

As can be heard, there are signs of a further meeting of the heads of state chancellery on this subject before the start of the Bundesliga season on August 14th.

As reported, for the preparatory game against St-Étienne, the opinion of the Frankfurt Health Department prevailed to let 10,000 spectators into the stadium for the test match on Saturday - 5,000 who have recovered or have been double vaccinated, and a further 5,000 who can show a negative test.

Wiesbaden had intervened because the guideline was to be understood in such a way that with an incidence of more than 35 a maximum of 5000 spectators could watch major events.

After the association announced that it would go to court if necessary, the ministry relented.

Due to the dispute, advance sales could only start on Wednesday, two days later than planned.

When Eintracht receives FC Augsburg for the first home game of the Bundesliga season on August 21, the concept will be similar to the one that will be tested against Étienne on Saturday.

Sports director goes on the offensive

People sit (there is no standing room) according to the “double checkerboard pattern”: two next to each other, two free seats, two next to each other and so on. The obligation to wear a mask applies to the place, then it can be removed, also for eating and drinking. The fans are asked to refrain from using megaphones, drums and large flags. If the concept proves itself, hopefully on the Eintracht homepage, we will be able to return to normal bit by bit.

Sports director Markus Krösche warns to move away from the corona incidence number as a guideline for admission to viewers in the Bundesliga. It feels like "as if we were stepping on the spot", wrote the manager in a guest post for the "kicker", as reported by the dpa. "As if there had not been a successful vaccination campaign with over 60 percent of at least first-vaccinated people in the general population of Germany, as if area-wide tests were still illusory."