La Liga may allow fans inside stadiums by early 2021 says chief

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Real Madrid fans could not celebrate their club's championship at the Bernabeu.

By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA--La Liga president Javier Tebas is looking at the possibility of allowing fans to watch the matches live in flesh by early next year.

However, this will depend on the pace of the development of the COVID-19 vaccines.

"In the recent news, the president of Spain (Pedro Sanchez) said they're going to start offering vaccinations to the whole population. To see the stadiums full as before, I think it'll be just after we get the vaccination, maybe January or February next year," the executive said in the press launch of the Spanish top flight's 90th season in Madrid on Monday.

He then clarified that the exact time frame on when fans can flock the stands remains uncertain at this point.

"It's not up to us in the league, so it's difficult to answer," he further said.

Spain was among the European countries that were heavily hit early into the health crisis but has quickly recovered from it, eventually leading to the resumption of professional sports there.

La Liga patterned its restart last season to that of the Bundesliga, in which all the matches were played behind closed doors.

Real Madrid, the eventual champion, even opted to hold the remainder of its campaign inside its training facility instead of the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.

Tebas remains optimistic that everything will go back to normal especially that the vaccine for COVID-19 is now on its way.

Some potential vaccines have already reached the third phase of the clinical trials. Two of them, both manufactured by China-based Sinopharm, were already given approval by the United Arab Emirates for emergency use.

It is projected that the vaccine may be released commercially by December the soonest.

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