The upcoming matchday of the first division in Belgium (December 26/27, 2021) will take place in empty stadiums, according to a government decision on Wednesday evening. The background is concerns about the spread of the Corona variant Omikron. Sports competitions must generally take place without an audience from December 26, said Prime Minister Alexander De Croo.
In Germany, the federal and state governments agreed on Tuesday to set ghost games in the Bundesliga from December 28th. This applies to all sports and other major events. In addition to Belgium and Germany, football has to do without fans in several other European countries.
Scotland and Wales without fans, in England so far only postponements
There is also such a crackdown in Great Britain in Wales and Scotland, but not yet in England: There the tight program over the Christmas days is to be adhered to – despite around 90 corona cases Premier LeaguePlayers or in the support teams.
Ten games have already been postponed in the top English division in the past few days. However, there are no other measures.
Italy: Corona outbreak in US Salernitana
In Italy’s Serie A The situation is also coming to a head. The league is still sticking to a maximum audience capacity of 50 percent for those who have been vaccinated and those who have recovered.
However, this regulation is unlikely to be sustainable, as the incidence in Italy has currently risen to 293.6. The government has called a meeting in Rome for Thursday evening (December 23rd, 2021), in which professional sport will also be negotiated.
The local health authority had currently banned the promoted US Salernitana from starting the Serie A game at Udinese Calcio on Tuesday (December 21, 2021) after several corona cases. The game was canceled at short notice. Salernitana is the club of the former Bayern star Franck Ribéry.