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The Complexity in Staging Empty-Stadium Matches

It will soon be the new norm, a cold and often unnerving sight that soccer and many other sports will have to get accustomed to over the coming months.

Games taking place in empty stadiums.

But will these stadiums actually be empty? Far from it.

“It’s not about 22 players walking onto a pitch and (kicking) a ball about,” FIFA vice president Victor Montagliani told The Associated Press, referring to what he called the “phased-in approach” that soccer — and society as a whole — will need to take to get back to normal following the coronavirus outbreak.