The issue of football is a hot topic at the moment. The Public Health Authority hopes to leave a message next week.

- We are fully aware of this, we understand that you have to know. We hope to land next week. We will try to get to a meeting with key players and end up with an assessment next week, says state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell to SVT Sport.

But there are a few question marks to straighten out.

Tegnell emphasizes, just as before, that it is not just about the 22 people who meet on the football field.

- You have to think about the whole, what it can mean for bars and the restaurant business. We know that in this type of interaction at bars and restaurants, the spread of infection has been quite extensive on several occasions. So we see that as an absolute risk situation, he says.

Can it be relevant to close bars at football matches?

- I don't know, we have to discuss it. It is perhaps a variant that we must consider, at least some types of business. Bar serving is not allowed today, it's just table serving.

So you are afraid that the supporters will go to bars?

- Yes.

How are you going to change that for next week?

- It's just that we talk through it with different actors so we find a good way to prevent it from happening.

- Maybe on a voluntary basis, to make it possible, you can say that "we will not show matches" at restaurants and bars. There are different possibilities.

Does that mean the clubs also need to talk to their supporter associations?

- Yes, the clubs have to talk to them. I saw in Germany that it was so that the home team lost the match if the supporters gathered outside the arena.

There may be talk of that kind of rules even in Sweden?

- Or voluntary commitments, or how to call it. We need to have a common understanding of that. This is not just a match issue, it is a social issue.

So the decision is influenced by how the sports bars act?

- Yes, and the supporter clubs ... I can imagine. You also have to agree that these matches you have to sit at home on the sofa and watch.

The Bundesliga started this weekend, but Tegnell has not looked at Germany yet. He does not know if the Public Health Authority will talk to anyone there.

- It is possible that we do. It is also possible that the Football Association and the National Sports Association have better contact with them than we have. We need to collect all the information we use, says Tegnell.

Allsvenskan hopes to start in mid-June. Damallsvenskan hopes to premiere on June 27. In the past, Tegnell and FHM have said that they will make a decision on football in early June, but now there is a possibility that it will come sooner.

Tegnell's response to criticism: "Some businesses need to limit their operations" (May 15, 2020)

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