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Stadium capacity decision boosts Malaga season ticket campaign

Fans queue to purchase their tickets.
Fans queue to purchase their tickets. / SUR
  • The new measures mean 100 per cent of seats can be occupied at football matches and 80 per cent at basketball games from this Friday

The decision made on Wednesday 29 September by regional and central governments to allow a return to full capacity at football matches comes as good news to Malaga CF.

The club are in the middle of their season ticket campaign and needed full capacity at La Rosaleda to allow for the influx of new ticket holders while maintaining the seats of the 19,000 current ones.

By Tuesday this week more than 8,000 fans had already fully purchased their seats for the rest of the season, which comprises 18 home games. The price of the seats is lower, and these new ticket holders will benefit from other advantages.

The most expensive season ticket, apart from the VIP area, costs 679 euros in zone 1 of the Tribuna, while the cheapest ticket will be in the 'Stand de Animación' (109 euros in total). The child pass stays at 60 euros.

Additionally, the club will compensate for the six games lost in the previous season due to the suspension of the championship (to those who requested it at the time).

The Interterritorial Council of the National Health System (CISNS) almost unanimously gave the green light for the expansion of capacity at the meeting on Wednesday, given the improvement of the coronavirus situation throughout the country.

The Ministry of Health initially announced that CISNS obliged both the National Professional Football League and the League of the Basketball Club Association (ACB) to "always guarantee a minimum interpersonal distance of 1.5 metres".

This condition was impossible to meet with full capacity, so finally the department requested that spectators should only "respect non-pharmacological measures of protection against Covid", without specifying distances.

The Health Ministry announced that the attendees of the events "will preferably be season ticket holders, as well as local fans" and that training will ideally be carried out without spectators.

The CISNS approved maintaining other limitations such as the ban on eating and drinking in the stands. Furthermore, only water can be sold and consumed.

In addition, the council prohibits smoking, and it will be mandatory to wear a mask at all times in sports venues, even if they are open and ventilated, and entrances and exits will continue to be controlled to avoid crowds.

These measures will be implemented for the entire country from 1 October and in the last week of the month a new assessment of the situation will be carried out. Malaga's next home fixture will be on Sunday 3 October against Fuenlabrada at 4pm.