June 4 – In small and slow steps football is returning to a semblance of normality. On Wednesday, the Hungarian Cup Final between Budapest Honved and Mezokovesd was played in front of the biggest crowd in Europe since the outbreak of the coronavirus, but a minority of supporters failed to respect social distancing rules.
It almost felt like a normal game. The Puskas Arena in the Hungarian capital Budapest welcomed fans, whose chants and drums produced the decibels and genuine atmosphere that have been missing at matches behind closed doors. Fans snapped up tickets quickly, prompting the Hungarian FA to open up the middle tier of the three-tiered venue.
Social distancing rules meant supporters had to sit four seats apart from each other, but the hardcore fans of both clubs flouted those rules and gathered in numbers behind the two goals.
Last week, the MLSZ moved to allow fans in for the first time since March, making Hungary the first European country to do so. At the weekend, small crowds attended matches in the domestic league with clubs asked to check temperature outside the stadium. Fans were advised to wear masks. On Wednesday evening, some fans seemed to have forgotten those guidelines.
Unsurprisingly, Honved triumphed to lift their eight Hungarian cup. Mezokovesd’s Laszlo Pekar cancelled out Ivran Lovric’s opener, but Djordje Kamber scored the winner for the Budapest club just before the hour.
In Hungary, lockdown restrictions have gradually been eased. At the weekend, bars and restaurants reopened in the capital. The country has 3,954 confirmed coronavirus cases while 539 people passed away after contracting the virus, according to the latest data from the Johns Hopkins University.
Contact the writer of this story, Samindra Kunti, at moc.l1714045704labto1714045704ofdlr1714045704owedi1714045704sni@o1714045704fni1714045704