Berlin (AFP)

For the first time since the introduction of the sanitary lock-up in March, some German stadiums will welcome the public in mid-September for the first round of the German Cup, the German Football Federation (DFB) confirmed on Monday.

"In the third division, the German Cup and the Women's Bundesliga, the reception and the number of spectators (...) must be decided by each club in agreement with the local health authorities", indicates a press release from the DFB .

"This means that in some stadiums there may be fans, while in others, the home clubs may accommodate fewer, if at all, spectators," adds the DFB, which organizes the Cup and all the competitions in from the third division.

The movement of fans of visiting teams, however, remains prohibited everywhere.

The DFB thus draws the consequences of the lack of political consensus at the federal level to authorize or prohibit the return of the public, and of the fact that it is the local authorities (regions or cities) which enact their own prevention rules against the coronavirus.

In fact, the authorized tonnage will rarely exceed 1,000 spectators, even if some towns will go further: Magdeburg, for example, has received an authorization for 7,500 people.

The DFB itself, which wished to invite 500 supporters for Thursday's Germany-Spain match in Stuttgart, on behalf of the League of Nations, was categorically refused.

For the first and second divisions, which depend on the League (DFL) and not on the Federation, it would therefore be theoretically possible to welcome the public in certain stadiums as of the resumption on September 18, within the framework of the very rigorous health protocol proposed. by the DFL.

But the Bundesliga is moving for the moment towards a resumption behind closed doors everywhere, for a question of standardization and in order not to create a distortion of competition between teams benefiting from the support of their fans and formations obliged to play in its stadiums empty.

© 2020 AFP