It cannot be ruled out that the Classic between Feyenoord and Ajax can be played with an audience on Sunday 19 December. The ‘evening lockdown’ announced by the cabinet on Friday evening will in principle run until Saturday 18 December. This is of course subject to change, because the measures could just be extended further.
For Dutch professional football, the extra measures mean at least two weeks longer without an audience. Initially, the public would be allowed again from December 4, but due to the rising infection figures, that was extended by two weeks on Friday evening. The outgoing cabinet has promised professional football that the support package for the coming weeks will be significantly expanded. Clubs are entitled to a contribution of the wage costs via the NOW scheme and a contribution towards fixed costs (TVL).
The decision means that at least three more full rounds in the Eredivisie and Kitchen Champion Division, plus one round in the TOTO KNVB Cup, will be completed without fans. Moreover, Ajax, Vitesse, Feyenoord and AZ have to finish their last European group match of the season in an empty stadium. PSV will play its last group match at Real Sociedad.
The ‘evening lockdown’ also applies to amateur sports, as a result of which evening training sessions and competitions cannot take place. It is unclear whether the result (again) is that amateur clubs have to leave the KNVB Cup tournament prematurely. Last season, all amateur clubs were expelled from the tournament, because they were not allowed to hold training sessions and were unable to complete matches. As a result, only 23 professional football clubs remained from the second round, nine of which were released by drawing. It is also conceivable that the cup matches with amateur clubs, for example, will be played in the afternoon, but it is not yet clear about this.