France/Covid-19: "Return of the public (to stadiums)? Clearly a premature question" (R. Maracineanu)

“Today, this is clearly a premature question, but we are still working on it. Asking the subject is important so as not to forget the subject," stated Roxana Maracineanu, French Minister Delegate in charge of Sport, on RTL radio on 28/02/2021, about the return of the public to the sports arenas emptied by the Covid-19 pandemic.

"You can imagine that with the Stade de France, which has 80,000 seats, I would like us to be able to put at least 30% minimum of spectators (or about 24,000) on an experimental basis," had stated Noël Le Graët, president of the FFF, on 23/02/2021, thinking of the France - Ukraine match on Wednesday 24/03/2021 (kick-off at 20:45 CET), qualifying match for the 2022 World Cup.

24,000 spectators at the Stade de France on 24/03/2021, is that unrealistic? To this question, Roxana Maracineanu answers: "Yes!" And to add: "We want the public, very quickly, to be able to return to the stadiums, but today, obviously, we must continue to be careful. And today, it is still premature to say when how much, and with which capacities and in which places (regions) the public…