Sunday, September 12, 2021 at 21:32• Dominic Mostert • Last update: 22:07

Football stadiums in the Netherlands can be completely filled again, reports the NOS Sunday night. Spectators must be able to present a vaccination certificate or a negative corona test at the stadium. The relaxation, which will be announced on Tuesday by outgoing Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Minister Hugo de Jonge, will come into effect on Saturday 25 September. On that day, the seventh round of the Eredivisie starts with a duel between Willem II and PSV. Until now, stadiums were allowed to be filled to two-thirds.

The cabinet will drop the one and a half meter rule as of September 25, but the Dutch must show a corona ticket in, for example, the catering industry, cinema and theater. With this they show that they have been vaccinated, have recovered from the corona virus or have recently tested negative. It is also required for entry to football stadiums. A spokesperson for the KNVB tells the NOS However, we pointed out that the one and a half meter rule had already been canceled in practice. “With a two-thirds occupancy rate in a stadium, you already go through the one and a half meters.”

Most of last season was played in empty stadiums. Only in the first weeks and in the last week of the season were limited numbers of spectators welcome. At the beginning of August, the KNVB, Eredivisie CV and Keuken Kampioen Division expressed their disappointment about the cabinet decision to extend the restrictive corona measures for visiting stadiums until September. The organizations expressed the hope that it would soon be possible to scale up to an occupancy rate of one hundred percent.

In the seventh rounds play Willem II (against PSV), Vitesse (against Fortuna Sittard), Ajax (against FC Groningen), FC Utrecht (against PEC Zwolle), Feyenoord (against NEC), Sparta Rotterdam (against SC Cambuur), sc Heerenveen (against FC Twente), AZ (against Go Ahead Eagles) and Heracles Almelo (against RKC Waalwijk) a home match in the Eredivisie. A round of matches will be completed in the Kitchen Champion Division on September 24, just too early for the relaxation. The first KKD match where one hundred percent of spectators can be present is Jong Ajax – MVV Maastricht on September 27.