Football matches and other sporting events in Spain will take place without fans in stadiums at least until the end of summer, the mayor of Madrid said on Saturday.
José Luis Martínez-Almeida told Onda Cero radio that the coronavirus pandemic will most likely not be under control by then so that competition with crowds resumes normally.
Martínez-Almeida said that in the spring and summer there will be no crowded events in Spain, probably not in the fall either. “There is going to be a possibility of regrowth. I doubt there will be shows for a long time, we will see in the fall,” he said.
Spain has been one of the countries hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic, with more than 190,000 confirmed cases, below only the United States. More than 20,000 people have died in the European country.
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LaLiga is not expected to restart its actions until at least the end of May. President Javier Tebas has said he hopes to play the first games in empty stadiums and that the league is working on other possibilities, including playing without fans until after fall.
“Football without an audience is possible for a reason, it is fair to end sports competitions so that the results correspond to reality,” said Martínez-Almeida.
The soccer federation said this week that if the league cannot be resumed it will use the current positions in the table to decide the four clubs that play in the Champions League, which would give Barcelona, Real Madrid, Seville and Real Sociedad the places. .
The League has said that the total losses for not finishing the campaign due to the pandemic could reach almost 1,000 million euros (1,100 million dollars). The losses if the season is resumed with empty stadiums would be around 300 million euros (235 million dollars) and if it resumes with fans they would be almost 150 million euros (163 million dollars).
Martínez-Almeida also said that Atlético de Madrid fans should not have traveled to Liverpool for the Champions League match. “It was a mistake,” he said. Almost 3,000 Atlético fans attended the game on March 11, just days before the Spanish government declared a state of emergency due to the pandemic and established lockdown measures that are expected to last at least until April 26.
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