Official: Bayern Munich to let fans back into the Allianz Arena

At long last, we will be seeing fans inside the Allianz Arena.

Per a report from kicker (as captured by Twitter account @iMiaSanMia), the Bundesliga has announced that from the start of the 2021/2022 season, a maximum of 25,000 fans will be allowed into the stadiums. In Bayern Munich’s case, this means that they will technically be able to host one third of the Allianz Arena.

However, the state of Bavaria apparently wants to take a more cautious approach to the situation, which is probably the right thing to do considering the COVID variants that are rapidly spreading across the world. FC Bayern will hence be able to host just 20,000 fans — approximately 27 percent capacity.

Still, this is a massive improvement from the previous season, when the Arena hosted fans just once all year: on the last matchday of the season against Augsburg. Even then, only 250 spectators were present to watch Bayern defeat their Bavarian neighbors 5-2 and lift the Meisterschale. Speaking of Bavarian neighbors, it is yet unknown if Augsburg will pose similar limitations on their capacity as Bayern’s.

The Allianz Arena has had a warm-up in welcoming fans back inside during the Euro 2020 tournament, when around 12,000 fans were allowed in during each of Germany’s three group matches. Considering almost twice the number of fans will now be in the stadium, it remains to be seen how well it will go.

Nonetheless, it will be certainly refreshing to see Bayern Munich play in front of fans again. Last season, Bayern only played in front of fans on a handful of occasions, and never in their home stadium. Although they did lift two trophies on the few times they did have fans watching (the UEFA Super Cup and the Club World Cup), it was still a shame to not have fans enjoy the other immense successes that the club went through. Hopefully now the club can celebrate even more titles with their fans there to cheer them on.