Products You May Like
Champions League winners Bayern Munich will contest the UEFA Super Cup against Sevilla in front of fans, UEFA has announced.
Up to 30% of the 67,000 capacity Puskas Arena in Budapest, Hungary will be open for spectators, the UEFA Executive Committee said. That means 20,000 fans could be allowed to attend.
– Stream ESPN FC Daily on ESPN+ (U.S. only)
It is not clear if the 20,000 stadium capacity will be made up of fans of Bayern Munich and Sevilla allowed to fly into Hungary, or if only local football supporters will be permitted to attend.
UEFA will use the game to study the impact of spectators as part of their Return to Play protocol. However, European football’s governing body also said all other matches will continue to be played behind closed doors.
“While it has been important to show that football can carry on in difficult times, without fans, the game has lost something of its character,” UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin said. “We hope to use the UEFA Super Cup in Budapest as a pilot that will begin to see the return of fans to our matches.
“We are working closely with the Hungarian Federation and its government to implement measures to ensure the health of all those attending and participating in the game. We will not take risks with people’s safety.”
The Super Cup is the traditional curtain-raiser to the European season, played between the winners of the two flagship competitions: the Champions League and the Europa League.
Ceferin said at the weekend that the single-game knockout format used in the Champions League this year from the quarterfinals onwards could be revisited in the future.
The format was changed in order to allow the competition to be completed in a shorter time span after the coronavirus pandemic halted play for several months across Europe in March.