German football giants, Borussia Dortmund have announced that a crowd of 10,000 people will be present at the stadium during Saturday’s opening Bundesliga clash at Signal Iduna Park.
The announcement came after Bundesliga clubs were given permission by the German government to allow fans into stadiums for the commencement of the 2020-21 season in Germany amid COVID-19 pandemic.
As such, Borussia Dortmund will play its season-opening Bundesliga fixture at home against Borussia Monchengladbach in front of 10,000 supporters, as the government rule stipulates that up to 20 percent of stadium capacity can be utilized by fans while strict hygiene requirements will be enforced.
Away fans are prohibited from attending and a match would be complled to be played behind closed doors if the infection rate in the home city is very high within a seven-day period.
The 2019-20 campaign started behind closed doors in May owing to Covid-19, which resulted in the league’s postponement in March.
Residents of Dortmund or North Rhine-Westphalia will only be granted entry into the stadium in respect of the match.
While talking about the happiness brought by this development, the CEO of Borussia Dortmund, Hans-Joachim Watzke said: “The Bundesliga teams, but also the clubs and associations of other sports, can be very happy today, and we definitely have this feeling at BVB,” said Dortmund chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke in a statement.
“I would like to thank everyone in politics who contributed to today’s decision in the past few weeks. At the same time, I feel a great obligation that we as clubs, together with the fans involved, will handle this probationary period extremely responsibly in the coming weeks. The now approved partial re-admission of viewers is in any case a very important step for all football fans in Germany.”
