Bulgarian Football League Will Be Attended By Audience

Illustration of audience attendance at a football stadium (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The COVID-19 pandemic has not ended. However, a football stadium in Bulgaria is ready to welcome supporters when the league in the Balkan country rolls back on Friday, 7 August.

The Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, Sports Minister Krasen Kralev and Health Minister Kostadin Angelov held special meetings to discuss the continuation of this season's football league.

From this meeting, it resulted in a decision that supporters were allowed to watch the match live on the field. However, the amount is only 50 percent of the total stadium capacity.

The number of spectators is also limited to only 1,000 people in each sector because they must still impose restrictions on physical distance between spectators or physical distancing as far as 1.5 meters.

Meanwhile, the Bulgarian health minister emphasized that indoor sports arenas are still off limits to spectators.

Previously, the government's decision to resume the football league without spectators drew heavy criticism. In fact, some of the supporting clubs sent letters to the parties concerned and convinced them that the match could still be held with an audience.

As of Tuesday, Bulgaria had recorded more than 12 thousand cases of COVID-19, with a death toll of 400 people. This figure is still relatively low in the European region.