Before the European Championship round of 16 between England and Germany, criticism of the increase in spectators for the Wembley Stadium and of fan behavior in the coronavirus pandemic is getting louder. Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) said with a view to the Delta variant, especially in Great Britain tens of thousands of spectators in the stadium are "irresponsible". In the "Süddeutsche Zeitung", Seehofer appealed to the European Football Union (UEFA) and the British government to "correct the number of viewers significantly downwards". Up to 45,000 fans are admitted on Tuesday evening (6 p.m. / ARD and Magenta TV). For the semifinals and the final even 60,000 spectators should be allowed in the Wembley Stadium.

Because the corona numbers recently rose again in Great Britain due to the delta variant, the step is controversial.

The Baden-Württemberg Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann described the fact that the games should be played there at all as "not really responsible".

This would “only be possible with strict adherence to the rules and the distances,” said the 73-year-old to the editorial network Germany (RND).

UEFA and the German Football Association must “urgently ensure that the rules are adhered to.

The plan to let even more people into the stadiums, like at Wembley, is blatant, "said the Green politician.

Söder: "I just don't want it to catch up with us"

Some previous pictures gave the impression that the pandemic was over.

"That is an absolutely wrong signal," said Kretschmann.

Games in full stadiums and spectators without gaps or masks could turn into a superspreader event.

"This recklessness makes me stunned," said Kretschmann to the RND.

Bavaria's Prime Minister Markus Söder (CSU) urged caution.

At the Munich venue and in Germany in general, it has "gone well" so far, Söder told the "Bild".

They “made a conscious decision to wait until it was clear how the incidences were developing here,” he said with a view to admitting fans and emphasizing: “I just don't want it to catch up with us.”

Söder considers it a mistake that more than 55,000 spectators were allowed into the stadium in Budapest.

“I wouldn't have done it like that in Hungary, wouldn't have wanted to be responsible for it.

To be the starting point for a superspreader event is not worth football in that ratio.

Enjoy it, but enjoy it sensibly, ”said Söder.

EU Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas also urged UEFA to be cautious.

The association must carefully weigh up a decision on a European Championship semi-final and European Championship final in a crowded stadium in Wembley, he said.

He recalled that Britain was restricting its citizens' opportunities to travel and that it needed a "certain symmetry" and proportionality in these decisions.

The Green health politician Janosch Dahmen warned against negligence.

"As a health politician and doctor, it worries me equally if, despite the rapid increase in dangerous virus variants, people are held at the crowded football stadiums, often without sufficient distance and mask," said the member of the Bundestag for the German Press Agency in Berlin.

Dahmen generally opposed the current corona course of the EM leaders.

"In the meantime even national players of several teams are infected," he said.

"We destroy everything that we have built up in the low number of cases."