14,000 Fans Allowed for Euro Matches in Munich's Allianz Arena

This aerial photo shows the illuminated Allianz Arena during the UEFA Champions League. (AFP)
This aerial photo shows the illuminated Allianz Arena during the UEFA Champions League. (AFP)
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14,000 Fans Allowed for Euro Matches in Munich's Allianz Arena

This aerial photo shows the illuminated Allianz Arena during the UEFA Champions League. (AFP)
This aerial photo shows the illuminated Allianz Arena during the UEFA Champions League. (AFP)

Some 14,000 fans will be allowed to attend Euro 2020 matches in Munich's Allianz Arena this month if infection rates in Bavaria remain as low as at the moment, Bavarian State Premier Markus Soeder said on Friday.

"We believe it is possible to have up to 20%, about 14,000 (in the stadium)," Soeder told a news conference. "The Euro is a special situation."

"We looked at it carefully. This could be a pilot and test for other professional sports. It is an outstanding test."

Germany had not provided guarantees for a minimum number of fans, as requested by European football’s governing body UEFA, when the city was confirmed as a Euro host.

The Allianz Arena is due to host Germany's three Group F matches against world champions France on June 15, holders Portugal four days later and Hungary on June 23.

The stadium will also host one quarter-final match.

Euro 2020 was postponed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic and will run from June 11-July 11, played out in 11 host cities across the continent.

COVID-19 cases have been dropping in Germany in recent weeks. On Friday officials announced 3,165 confirmed cases nationwide.



Amorim is 'Very Excited' about where 14th-place Man United Can Go in 2025

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim reacts at the end of the English Premier League match between Manchester United and Newcastle United in Manchester, Britain, 30 December 2024. EPA/ADAM VAUGHAN
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim reacts at the end of the English Premier League match between Manchester United and Newcastle United in Manchester, Britain, 30 December 2024. EPA/ADAM VAUGHAN
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Amorim is 'Very Excited' about where 14th-place Man United Can Go in 2025

Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim reacts at the end of the English Premier League match between Manchester United and Newcastle United in Manchester, Britain, 30 December 2024. EPA/ADAM VAUGHAN
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim reacts at the end of the English Premier League match between Manchester United and Newcastle United in Manchester, Britain, 30 December 2024. EPA/ADAM VAUGHAN

Despite his team entering 2025 in 14th place in the Premier League, Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim is “very excited” about the year ahead.
United’s 2-0 home defeat to Newcastle on Monday saw it suffer five league losses in the same calendar month for the first time since September 1962, and a fourth straight reverse in all competitions means the Red Devils have lost six of their last eight.
But in a message posted on his club's official X account on New Year’s Eve, Amorim wrote: “I know it will take a lot of hard work from everyone to get there, but I am very excited about where we can go together in 2025.”
Amorim is yet to halt the alarming slide which led to Erik ten Hag’s dismissal in October, and his team is seven points above the drop zone with increasing talk of a relegation fight, including by Amorim himself who has called it “a possibility.”
But the Portuguese says he's determined to press on with the 3-4-3 system despite the difficulties United’s squad has had in adapting, The Associated Press reported.
“Of course I didn’t choose the players specifically for these positions but that I already knew,” he said. “But I understand they have a lot of difficulties because they spend two years playing one way and then they are playing another."
Amorim did not have the benefit of a pre-season to implement such a major change to United’s tactical model, and admitted that is having a significant impact.
“I think the players are losing everything, the small things that we try to work on in training," Amorim said. "After one goal they lose everything because we don’t have the base, we don’t have time to build the base to cope with the difficult moments so it’s really hard in this moment.”
United has the toughest of starts to 2025 when it travels to play league leader Liverpool on Sunday in what is widely considered English soccer’s fiercest rivalry.