Conmebol decided to allow the public to enter the grand final of the Copa América, between Brazil and Argentina, which will be held this Saturday, at Maracanã. The presence of fans was authorized by the Municipal Health Department of Rio (SMS), but will be limited to 10% of the stadium’s capacity.
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Each sector of Maracanã may receive 10% of its capacity. According to the decree published in the Official Gazette, this Friday, the seated public must obey a minimum spacing of two meters between each person or family.
The event’s organizer, Conmebol, will be responsible for testing Covid-19 on everyone who enters the stadium, within 48 hours before the game. Anyone who tests positive will be barred.
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On the night of last Thursday, 8, the newspaper “Olé” had announced that 2,200 tickets for fans will be released for each of the teams. The sale of 150 tickets for the stadium’s VIP area was also authorized.
The possibility of the presence of the public was confirmed after pressure from the entity on the city of Rio, which, at first, did not want to release the fans, but ended up giving in to pressure from the entity.
Conmebol’s proposal is similar to that made for the final of last year’s Libertadores, between Palmeiras and Santos, when the stadium had 10% of its maximum capacity released for the event.
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In addition to these fans, about 600 other people, including guests, media professionals and officials who will take care of security, will be at the venue.
— We had the final of the Copa Libertadores, we allowed it to have 5,000 guests at the time. And they concentrated the 5,000 guests in a sector of Maracanã, which ended up being a problem and the City Hall fined them at that time. The change we have is this: 10% in each sector of the stadium, that is, you have a large space between people and, as far as I understand, they are invited by Conmebol, all of them tested — said Mayor Eduardo Paes, at the press conference morning press release.
However, Paes gave no indication that the new release will extend to other national or local tournaments.
— We have an exceptionality there, which is the Copa America final, but it becomes a test event for us. With a lot of control and a lot of caution. There is already a (prepared) SMS decree releasing events in the city with various requirements. I decided not to follow through on this because I think the measures are very difficult to comply with – said Mayor Eduardo Paes.
According to the municipal secretary of Health, Daniel Soranz, in the first request, the organization asked for half of the stadium’s total capacity to be released for the final of the tournament; this request was, in turn, denied.
— The initial request for the Copa America to the City Hall was to hold 50% of the public, and we don’t think it’s adequate. We release 10% of each sector of the stadium to avoid crowding. All people will have the environment controlled by testing and separated by two meters to avoid crowding.
Between the Libertadores final and the current moment, there was yet another occasion: the presence of 148 guests in the first leg of the State final, on May 16, between Flamengo and Fluminense, also resulted in a fine of more than R$14 thousand to the Maracanã administration.
According to the Municipal Health Department of Rio de Janeiro at the time, the release was a “very serious health infraction”.
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