Bayern Munich’s Karl-Heinz Rummenigge wants more fans to be allowed back in to stadiums for matches in Germany

In the most recent addition of kicker, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said he was frustrated that the processes for reintroducing fans into stadiums in Germany has not been advanced enough as coronavirus infection rates have lowered throughout the country. Aside from Union Berlin’s final match of the Bundesliga season against RB Leipzig and leg two of the Bundesliga playoffs between FC Koln and Holstein Kiel, matches in the German top flight have been Geisterspiele apart from a brief phase in the Hinrunde when portions of fans were allowed back at various venues.

Photo by S. Mellar/FC Bayern via Getty Images

With the Euros right around the corner, and several matches set to take place at the Allianz Arena, Rummenigge said that he was “extremely irritated that the return concepts for the audience are not being advanced in line with the incidence values. We have to openly discuss larger audience numbers,” he urged ( via Abendzeitung). Across the rest of Europe, fans have already been reintroduced, most prominently in the final two match weeks of the Premier League season in England as well as the Carabao Cup and FA Cup finals at Wembley. Not to mention, the English League playoff finals at Wembley and the Champions League final in Porto, Portugal between Chelsea and Manchester City had a large number of fans present.

Looking back to last year, the German top flight was the first major sporting division to return play after the coronavirus pandemic had brought the sporting world to a screeching halt for at least two months. The DFL and DFB, in coordination with the German government and local state authorities got the proper plans and protocols in place to be able to resume and provide a blueprint for what to do for other leagues across the globe. Because of this, Rummenigge was critical at the pace in which plans for bringing back fans and Germany have progressed, or lack thereof. “[The Bundesliga was first to resume], but we’re obviously the last to get spectators again,” he said.

Per UEFA’s request, they want to be able to have roughly 14,500 fans at the Allianz Arena for Germany’s group stage matches against France and then Portugal. Additionally, one of the quarter-finals matches of the tournament is set to take place there on July 2nd. Hopefully for Bayern’s sake, and for the rest of the Bundesliga, this summer’s tournament will give us some insight as to what things will look like fans wise for next season.