The public will not be welcome in the stadiums for the time being. The outgoing cabinet is heading for a tightening of the corona measures in force: many sectors have to close from 5 p.m. to 5 a.m. Football seems to be able to continue, but stadiums will remain closed. According to the NOS the new rules will apply from Sunday for at least three weeks.
Under the current measures, the stadiums would remain closed to the public until December 4. The rules that come into effect on Sunday will apply for at least three weeks. Therefore, the conclusion can be drawn that there will be no audience in the stadiums until at least Sunday 19 December. The decision means that at least four 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, Feyenoord, AZ and Vitesse cannot count on support from the supporters in the last match in the group stage of their European tournament.
The next Eredivisie round where the public may be present is round 18. The matches in that round will be played from Tuesday 21 December to Thursday 23 December. However, a turnaround in the corona figures is first needed before the cabinet thinks about relaxation. However, the average number of daily infections has been above 20,000 for five consecutive days, while the occupancy in hospitals has been rising for weeks. There is no sign of a decrease yet, so the measures could be extended or even tightened up at a later date.
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.
Insiders report to the NOS that restaurants and cafes, ‘non-essential’ shops, cinemas and theatres, museums, amusement parks, gyms and amateur sports will be closed between 5pm and 5am. Grocery stores can stay open until 8 p.m. The schools will also remain open. On Thursday, the new measures appeared to take effect from Saturday, but according to the latest information, the start date will be Sunday. On Friday evening, Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Minister Hugo de Jonge will explain a press conference.