“We are moving forward the already planned increase in the number of spectators a few days. The currently significantly declining number of infections gives us this scope – and we use it,” said Grote and added: “We want HSV to be as strong as possible in the fight for promotion and in the cup give a tailwind.”
At the political level, however, it was obviously not quite that simple. Politicians promised HSV concessions after his application. But in the past few days there had been trouble between the coalition partners SPD and the Greens.
HSV boss Wüstefeld promises a sense of responsibility
“We are pleased that the constructive talks with the Hamburg Senate have led to a good result,” said HSV board member Thomas Wüstefeld, adding: “We will deal with this new capacity limit responsibly and are very happy that we now have significantly more to give our fans access to two such top games.”
HSV announced that the 2G-plus rule still applies to access to the Volksparkstadion. In addition, there is still a mask requirement. Advance sales for the game against Werder will continue on Wednesday, for the cup game on Thursday. In both cases initially only for members and holders of a season ticket deposit. There will be 3,000 tickets each for the standing room area on the north stand.
Most recently at home in 2019 – and in the cup semifinals
In the cup, it is the first home game of the season for coach Tim Walter’s team. In the first round, the team struggled to win 2-1 at third division side Eintracht Braunschweig. Then there was a 4-2 win at league rivals 1. FC Nürnberg and most recently the acclaimed 5-4 win at Bundesliga club 1. FC Köln after penalties.
HSV played their last cup game in their own stadium on October 29, 2019, when coach Dieter Hecking’s team lost 2-1 in the second round to second division side VfB Stuttgart. At that time, Walter was still on the bench with the Swabians. A good six months earlier, Hamburg had been in the cup semifinals with Hannes Wolf, but lost 3-1 to Bundesliga club Leipzig.