First soccer match with live audience in almost five months

For the first time in almost five months, a soccer match in the Netherlands will be played with an audience again. The duel in the Eerste Divisie between NEC and De Graafschap is part of the Fieldlab experiments. In Nijmegen, a maximum of 1,500 NEC season ticket holders could have entered, but the counter remained at 1153 registrations.

Many fans did not want to do a corona test twice, both before and after the game. The NEC supporters who did sign up were divided into five ‘bubbles’. Each bubble has its own rules. For example, the fans in some compartments did not have to wear a face mask and they were also allowed to sit less than 1.5 meters from each other. Every visitor was given a tag containing a chip, with which all movements, contacts and ‘behavior’ were registered.

“I’m looking forward to the trial match, to finally attend another match in De Goffert. Following NEC on television is really different than in the stadium. The fact that there are restrictions does not change that,” says Harry Corveleijn, who has had a season ticket from NEC for five years. “I’ve read the terms of the experiment, but I’m not worried about that. I have not been ill for ten years, not a day, and I am one of the group that gets mild complaints from corona. Of course that also plays a role.”