Tuesday March 23, 2021
Berlin derby without fans
Top game RB-Bayern is on the brink
The derby between Union Berlin and Hertha BSC should become a pilot project, but the Berlin Senate is now canceling the return of fans because public life is to be shut down at Easter. Therefore, the top game between RB Leipzig and Bayern Munich is on the brink.
It is still unclear what effects the resolutions of the federal and state governments made on early Tuesday to combat the corona crisis will have on the course of the Bundesliga. The derby between Union Berlin and Hertha BSC planned for Easter Sunday can take place as planned. The Senate Department for Interior and Sport denied a different report from the rbb. Both clubs and the DFL have so far not commented.
“The Senate has only decided that the game must take place without a spectator,” it said in a statement. The pilot project planned for the Derby for the return of spectators could not be implemented because of the Easter rest. The federal and state governments decided on Tuesday night to extend the current lockdown rules until April 18. Over Easter, the lockdown is tightened for several days so that public life in Germany is largely shut down.
In Berlin, the return of fans at three test events is being prepared in cooperation with the professional clubs from various team sports and the Senate Administration. The Berlin volleys will kick off the playoff game of the volleyball Bundesliga against Düren on Wednesday in the Max-Schmeling-Halle. Originally, the Berlin derby was supposed to be part two of the pilot project and let fans return to the Bundesliga for the first time. In terms of capacity, Union had targeted a “very low four-digit number”, said club spokesman Christian Arbeit last week, which will be “nowhere near the 5000”.
RB-FCB on the brink – but maybe with fans
The hosting of the top game in the Bundesliga between RB Leipzig and Bayern Munich, however, is questionable. CDU Prime Minister Michael Kretschmer did not want to commit himself whether the game could be played on April 3rd as planned. “The next few days will show whether that is the case,” said Kretschmer. The federal government is currently working on an ordinance to clarify issues such as professional football over Easter.
At the same time, Leipzig can hope to even let spectators into the stadium if the game takes place. One day after the cancellation by the Mayor of Leipzig, Burkhard Jung, the state government announced a change to the Corona regulation on model tests. These projects will be decoupled from the incidence and could start from Thursday. RB has applied for a pilot project to allow 1000 fans who tested negative for the game into the stadium.
“That was an important concern for us, in order to show how openings can also be possible under pandemic conditions. With a very clear and unambiguous test regime. That is why we are changing the current Corona Protection Ordinance in one point. That means that we there have deleted the incidence dependency of 100 “, said Saxony Health Minister Petra Köpping on Tuesday.
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