Berlin, November 25 (BUS): German football fans thought they would put their empty stadium days behind, but the coronavirus pandemic hasn’t stopped.
Records in Germany indicate that one of the major clubs has returned to play without an audience and that another team will reduce thousands of fans this weekend, according to the Associated Press.
Leipzig is at the fore with the latest wave of the pandemic in Germany in the eastern state of Saxony, where infection rates are highest and vaccination rates are lowest compared to other regions.
With intensive care facilities under pressure, state authorities have banned fans from sporting events.
That means RB Leipzig will host their first Bundesliga match on an empty stadium in months when they visit Bayer Leverkusen on Sunday.
It also affects his Champions League match against Manchester City next month. Clubs in other states are also subject to increased restrictions.
Bayern Munich can only fill their stadium at 25% capacity against Armenia Bielefeld on Saturday.
Just a month ago, the picture was completely different.
Germany’s vaccination program was going well, and entry rules for the Games – generally limited to people who had been fully vaccinated, recently recovered from the virus or with a negative test – were widely obeyed.
Bayern Munich celebrated owning 75,000 full homes for the first time since March 2020 on October 23 when they played for Hoffenheim.
Since then, case numbers have continued to reach record levels in German society, and football has not survived.
Leipzig coach Jesse Marsh and goalkeeper Peter Gulassi will not be in their match on an empty stadium against Leverkusen because the team said this week that the tests were positive. Of the four German clubs that competed in the Champions League this week, all have lost at least one player who tested positive.
Leipzig shrugged off the delay in their 5-0 win over Belgian club Brugge on Wednesday, but questions remain over Marsh’s future with the club seventh on the Bundesliga table and unable to qualify for the Champions League knockout round.
Bayern’s slim fans will see the team try to recover from their shock 2-1 defeat in Augsburg last week that reduced their lead to just one point.
The graceful Bayern Munich side clung to a 2-1 win over Dynamo Kiev on Tuesday but virus cases and injuries mean coach Julian Nagelsmann has few tactical options and cannot rest key players. Against this background, even a relegation-threatened Bielefeld becomes a tougher opponent.
Bayern’s problems worsened on Wednesday when midfielder Joshua Kimmich and reserve striker Eric Maxime Choupo-Moting tested positive for the coronavirus.
Kimmich became the face of debate in Germany about vaccine hesitation last month, and a political talking point in parliament, when he said in a television interview that he had not been vaccinated and had reservations about vaccines against the virus.