Portugal’s health secretary on Monday stated that no fans will be at the upcoming Champions League games in the country “under the current pandemic situation.”
UEFA decided on June 17 that the final stages of the 2019-20 Champions League will be held in the Lisbon from Aug. 12-23, rather than Istanbul as originally planned.
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“Regarding the public and based on the current pandemic situation, obviously not,” Antonio Lacerda Sales said when asked about possible fan attendance at Champions League games. “We don’t know how the pandemic is going to evolve and as we have done in other situations, we will take measures according to the evolution of the pandemic. I cannot anticipate the future. In this phase obviously not.”
When the announcement was made that the Champions League games would be in Portugal, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin said no decision had been made regarding fan attendance.
Portugal have had 1568 confirmed deaths due to the coronavirus, with 41912 positive cases.
The Portuguese league resumed on June 4, with all the games played behind closed doors.
The Champions League competition was suspended before completion of the round of 16 in March because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The cities of Porto and Guimaraes will stage the round-of-16 matches on Aug. 7-8 in the event that any of the teams that have to host a game cannot do so.
Benfica’s Estadio da Luz and Sporting’s Estadio Jose Alvalade in Lisbon were chosen by UEFA to stage Champions League games from the quarterfinals onwards.