SFA hoping Scottish Government will sign off on at least 1,500 fans at Scottish Cup final

Hibs and St Johnstone fans will be able to attend the Scottish Cup final on May 22 after UEFA struck a deal with the Scottish FA to allow supporters into Hampden.
A general view of HampdenA general view of Hampden
A general view of Hampden

Scottish football chiefs are understood to have submitted a request to the Scottish Government for between 1,500 and 3,000 fans to attend the game.

Scotland’s Covid-19 guidelines are changing from Monday May 17 to allow at least 500 spectators to attend matches but despite the cup final taking place five days later, the event was set to proceed without fans due to UEFA needing to prepare the stadium for Euro 2020.

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Fans urged the Scottish FA to explore every option to allow fans to attend, while Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack offered use of Pittodrie if Hampden remained unsuitable.

But UEFA and SFA top brass agreed a solution that would allow a “limited number of spectators” to attend the match.

A statement read: “The Scottish FA has received approval from UEFA to a revised proposal that will enable a limited number of supporters to attend the Scottish Cup final at Hampden on May 22.

"We have now made a submission to Scottish Government for permission to increase the number of spectators from the maximum 500 permitted under Level 2 restrictions.

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"We are grateful to UEFA for removing the condition that required the final to be played behind closed doors, after the postponement of the tie from May 8 to 22 due to the suspension of football during the second wave of the pandemic.

"We await a positive response from the Scottish Government and will communicate final confirmation of maximum supporter numbers as soon as possible.”

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