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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)
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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.

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Past and Present Weighing Heaving on Borussia Dortmund

FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Bundesliga - Borussia Dortmund v VfL Bochum - Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany - September 27, 2024 Borussia Dortmund coach Nuri Sahin reacts REUTERS/Leon Kuegeler
FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Bundesliga - Borussia Dortmund v VfL Bochum - Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany - September 27, 2024 Borussia Dortmund coach Nuri Sahin reacts REUTERS/Leon Kuegeler
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Past and Present Weighing Heaving on Borussia Dortmund

FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Bundesliga - Borussia Dortmund v VfL Bochum - Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany - September 27, 2024 Borussia Dortmund coach Nuri Sahin reacts REUTERS/Leon Kuegeler
FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Bundesliga - Borussia Dortmund v VfL Bochum - Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund, Germany - September 27, 2024 Borussia Dortmund coach Nuri Sahin reacts REUTERS/Leon Kuegeler

It’s been more than 10 years since Borussia Dortmund won back-to-back titles in the Bundesliga.
There have been minor successes — German Cup wins in 2017 and 2021, and reaching the Champions League final last season — but they’ve served only to raise the long-suffering Dortmund fans’ expectations by showing the team’s potential.
Despite the return of former player Nuri Sahin as coach, this season already seems to be following the well-worn path of the last few, The Associated Press reported.
Before the international break, Dortmund routed Scottish champion Celtic 7-1 in the Champions League, then followed with a meek 2-1 loss at Union Berlin in the Bundesliga. Dortmund has won only half of its six German league games so far. A 5-1 loss at Stuttgart had already put the team’s league ambitions in perspective.
Sahin believes it’s too early for alarm.
“To start doubting our path after six match days would be fatal. And we won’t do that,” Sahin said this week. “And despite criticism, it is my job to always offer solutions, to show the solutions, and to improve things together with the guys.”
Sahin said he had no room for any doubts.
“We are very, very confident about the path we are taking as a club and we will follow it to the end and be successful. I am sure of that.”
Sahin is the seventh coach to take charge of Dortmund since Jürgen Klopp stood down in 2015. It was Klopp who led the team to back-to-back titles in 2011 and 2012, then runner-up finishes behind Bayern Munich in 2013 and 2014, before his team’s form unraveled during the 2014-15 season.
Dortmund never recovered amid ongoing questions about the team's mentality. The closest it came to ending Bayern’s dominance was in 2023, when it squandered the chance of winning the Bundesliga on the final day during Edin Terzić’s second stint in charge.
Terzić resigned after last season’s Champions League final defeat to Real Madrid, saying he wanted to make way for someone else to begin a new era at the club – a reference to Klopp’s mostly successful seven-year stint in charge.
Red Bull’s recent announcement that Klopp is to join the company to oversee its soccer clubs’ development has added to Dortmund fans’ pain.
Another former coach, Thomas Tuchel, who won the German Cup in 2017, was appointed England coach on Wednesday.
The 36-year-old Sahin — Terzić’s former assistant — faces a tall order to restore Dortmund’s status as Bayern’s biggest challenger in the league. Other clubs have assumed that mantle, with Bayer Leverkusen becoming the one to finally end Bayern’s 11-year run as champion by claiming its first Bundesliga title after a remarkable unbeaten campaign last season. Stuttgart and Leipzig also both finished ahead of Dortmund last season.
Summer signings are yet to settle in. The arrivals of star Guinea forward Serhou Guirassy and Germany defender Waldmar Anton from Stuttgart have yet to improve the team’s attack or defense, while the 33-year-old Pascal Groß from Brighton can’t be seen as a long-term solution to the team’s vulnerability.
Off the field, there have been reports of disharmony between Dortmund’s new managing director for sport Lars Ricken, sporting director Sebastian Kehl and team planner Sven Mislintat. Chief executive Hans-Joachim “Aki” Watzke is stepping down at the end of the year.
One of Watzke’s last major contributions was the signing of a sponsorship deal with an arms manufacturer before the Champions League final, leading to protests from Dortmund fans this season.
Dortmund next hosts promoted St. Pauli in the Bundesliga on Friday, before another tussle with Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday. Madrid won their final 2-0 in June.