Istanbul (AFP) – Turkey’s football federation reversed course on Thursday and decided to ban fan attendance in the first half of the season due to a sudden rise in coronavirus infections and deaths.
The governing body had decided last week to allow stadiums to be filled to 30 percent capacity provided that fans wear masks and respect other social distancing rules.
But Turkey’s daily virus deaths have doubled since then — from just over 20 to around 45 — and new infections are trending at the highest levels since May.
Turkey’s health ministry said Wednesday the nation of more than 83 million was now living through a “second peak of the first wave” of the disease.
The football federation said that “despite our board meeting’s decision on August 25”, it had decided “to play games without fans in the first half of the 2020-21 season”.
The new Super Lig season is due to kick off on September 11.
The football-mad nation has officially recorded more than 270,000 novel coronavirus infections and 6,462 Covid-19 deaths.
Istanbul side Basaksehir celebrated their first top-flight title after winning the 2019/20 season in July.
