Monday, August 23, 2021 at 4:24 PM• Rian Rosendaal • Last update: 16:24

Mario Götze was confronted at the press conference on Monday afternoon with Hugo de Jonge’s announcement that the standing stands in the Eredivisie should be closed. The outgoing Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport, who was present on Sunday at Feyenoord’s home game with Go Ahead Eagles (2-0), believes that the ‘happening should be a mess’. As far as De Jonge’s wish is concerned, Götze is already looking ahead with a quip on PSV’s home game against Benfica on Tuesday evening.

“So everyone has to stay in their seats?” Götze wonders aloud and with a smile during the press conference. “Okay, we’ll see how that goes. I don’t know what the supporters will do or how they will react. But if those are the rules, then so be it. If I’m on the couch and we get a good chance, I get up automatically. But those are the rules. Maybe the fans should get seat belts or something like that,” says the PSV midfielder with a joke. “I don’t know, we’ll see if it works.”

Hugo de Jonge: standing stands must be closed for the time being

The minister wants the standing stands in the Netherlands to no longer be used, it came out on Monday.Read article

De Jonge issued a warning to football supporters on Friday. He warned that the corona rules could be tightened if supporters did not sit neatly in their seats last weekend. The outgoing cabinet wants football clubs to better ensure that the rules are complied with. The minister already saw improvement last weekend. “The spread of crowds in stadiums was really better. The admission tickets were well checked,” it signed General Newspaper and The Telegraph from the mouth of De Jonge. According to him, there is no reason for additional measures for the time being. “You shouldn’t want the good guys to suffer from a few bad guys. I’ve seen that things are going well for the majority. Then I think additional measures are going too far for everyone.”

The mayors will consult with the professional clubs and the KNVB. According to De Jonge, mayors are primarily responsible for enforcement in the stadiums. Standing stands – ‘Apparently they are still there, I didn’t know that,’ said De Jonge, according to the General Newspaper – must, however, be closed and season ticket holders should be even better distributed throughout the stadium. “I saw in a number of courses in a number of stadiums that the hustling in a clump was not over yet. That is of course also difficult in the emotion of football, I understand that. But we really shouldn’t do that.”