Düsseldorf (dpa) – After the announcement by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia that up to 10,000 people would again be allowed to attend major national events outdoors, the Bundesliga soccer teams have not yet withdrawn their urgent applications to the Higher Administrative Court in Münster.
That said a court spokeswoman for the German Press Agency. These are 1. FC Köln, Borussia Dortmund and Arminia Bielefeld. The clubs have home games at the weekend and earlier in the week they submitted applications to the court to review the country’s Corona Protection Ordinance, which is in force until February 9th.
If the clubs stick to their applications despite Wednesday’s commitment for a maximum capacity of 50 percent but not more than 10,000 spectators, the court would not decide this week, according to spokeswoman Gudrun Dahme. The clubs like Cologne or Dortmund had requested significantly higher spectator numbers than the now possible 10,000. 1. FC Köln had spoken in the application from 25,000 fans.
During the week, the court pointed out that it cannot decide on individual viewer numbers. The only thing that needs to be clarified is whether the state’s Corona Protection Ordinance will be confirmed overall when it comes to major events or whether it will be suspended. This now also applies to the new regulation that has been in force since February 3rd. Clubs do not have to submit new applications. With the new regulation, the state of North Rhine-Westphalia has implemented decisions made by the heads of the state and senate chancellery of the federal states.
Arminia Bielefeld continues to not rule out legal remedies for viewer restrictions during the corona pandemic. “We are now waiting for the first time and are open to taking similar steps in the future if we believe that the regulations are no longer fair compared to other regulations,” said Arminia’s managing director Markus Rejek.
“We felt it was an injustice and are still in contact with the other clubs. We would like to thank 1. FC Köln in particular for doing good groundwork,” said the Bielefeld CFO. From an economic point of view, however, it is only damage limitation.