Berlin (AFP)
Bavarian Minister-President Markus Söder on Monday said he feared that Bayern Munich's match in Budapest on Thursday for the UEFA Super Cup against Sevilla could become a major source of coronavirus contamination.
"We have to be very, very careful not to take the risk of being a sort of football Ischgl," he warned on regional public radio B5, referring to the Austrian ski resort that has become the last winter a large European focus of coronavirus contamination.
Some 20,000 spectators will be allowed to attend this match, in a stadium with a capacity of 67,000.
A trip to the Hungarian capital, classified as a "risk zone" by the German authorities, "is not reasonable, which is why we will again change the quarantine order", he added, specifying that even people who have stayed less than 48 hours in Budapest will have to quarantine themselves upon their return to Germany.
"We cannot take a risk with 2,000 or 3,000 people who no doubt, and this is understandable, will hug each other in great jubilation. We will then have a gigantic wave of infections," he added. .
Some 3,000 tickets have been allocated to supporters of each team, and the leaders of Germany's most successful club have so far said they are counting on a trip to Budapest of 2,100 fans.
On Friday when the German championship resumed, Bayern was forced to play behind closed doors at home because the rate of coronavirus infection is rising rapidly in Bavaria.
Bayern Munich coach Hansi Flick also questioned the trip on Sunday.
UEFA announced at the end of August that it would authorize the return of spectators for the European Supercup, within the limit of 30% of the stadium's capacity, while maintaining the closed door for the other international matches at the start of the school year.
Thousands of holidaymakers, especially Germans and Scandinavians, are said to have caught the new coronavirus during their stay in the Ischgl resort in early 2020, then to have imported it on their return from vacation.
© 2020 AFP