Hope Remains For Full Stadiums At The Top Level

The Premier League have stated they are 'committed to the ambition of having full stadiums for the start of next season’.

The COVID 19 pandemic resulted in matches played behind closed doors for some of the 2019/20 season and almost the full schedule of the 2020/21 season.

Empty stadiums became the new norm, with the spectacle enjoyed globally with atmospheres missing and intensity within games sorely missing. The lack of home fans interesting resulted in it being the first Premier League season in history to see more away wins (153) than home wins (144) as the lack of crowd noise was felt across the country.

The last couple of games of the campaign saw home fans allocated up to 10,000 fans in the stadium but away fans were not allowed entry, in an attempt to reduce the spread of coronavirus regarding travel restrictions.

However, with less than two months until the start of the 2021/22 season, the Premier League have declared that they are planning and expecting to have full stadiums for the opening weekend on August 14th.

A Premier League statement read: "The Premier League has announced that it and its clubs are committed to the ambition of having full stadiums, including away supporters, from the start of the season, and will continue to work closely with Government and all relevant authorities, ensuring operational plans are in place ready to safely welcome supporters back to stadiums in August".

This is positive news considering the British government decided to postpone the plan to abolish all restrictions from June 21st until July 19th, meaning the Euro 2020 final on July 11th is now unlikely to have a full stadium.

However, with the latest set‑back many will feel that full capacities and the likelihood of away fans would be a surprise in as little as 8 weeks, in spite of the extremely low numbers of positive cases recording from any of the sporting stadia pilots that have taken place thus far.