By Peter Weis@PeterVicey

Frankfurt and Leipzig prepare for 1,000 live supporters

Eintracht Frankfurt confirmed that the German state of Hessen's new protection order will allow them to welcome 1,000 live spectators back to Deutsche Bank Park for their next league fixture on Friday night. 

RB Leipzig will also permit 1,000 fans to attend tomorrow's Pokal fixture, meaning that new club trainer Domenico Tedesco will play a home match in front of live fans for the first time. 
With the exception of the city-states Hamburg and Berlin (as well as the federal state of Schleswig-Holstein), no football fixtures in the German Bundesrepublik are currently being watched by live fans in excess of 1,000 persons. If German football isn't being played before empty stands, some German states are allowing in very small numbers between 200 and 500 to watch matches live. In the country's biggest footballing hot-bed of North-Rhine Westphalia, 750 live supporters are permitted into stadiums.

Most German football (not to mention politics) watchers are of the consensus that matters will change only gradually. It remains highly unlikely that large crowds in the 3,000 to 5,000 range will reappear until March 2022 at the earliest. There are nevertheless signs of a small thaw in the federal states of Hessen and Saxony. Eintracht Frankfurt announced today that they will raffle off 1,000 tickets for Friday night's home game against Arminia Bielefeld.

Additionally, RB Leipzig have a confirmed 1,000 tickets in the hands of fans for tomorrow evening's Pokal match against regional rivals Hansa Rostock. Leipzig, by order of the German federal state of Saxony, were the first Bundesliga club to reintroduce "Geisterpiele" (spectator free "ghost games") back in December. New RB head-coach Domenico Tedesco has not played a home match before live fans yet.

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