FANS BACK IN OCTOBER

UEFA will allow fans to return to international matches in October. As Sportsmail reported yesterday, a number of countries were hopeful that supporters would be permitted to attend next month’s Nations League fixtures, including England’s home game against Denmark. But UEFA were keen not to hand any country an unfair advantage and, as expected, have ruled that all internationals in September will be behindclosed-doors. Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham, who was on a video conference of the 55 member nations on which the matter was discussed, is hopeful that a limited number of fans will be at Wembley for England’s three matches in October. ‘We hope, by the three home games in October, there will be some changes and we would like to get fans into Wembley by then,’ he said. ‘To what level, we have to work out with UEFA and the Government. We are not talking about a full stadium but some level of fans in the stadium.’ Bullingham confirmed some countries had been pushing for fans to be let into next month’s games. ‘There was pressure,’ he said. ‘All of us are keen to get fans back — they are the lifeblood of football. ‘There was a lot of discussion on that. Some countries are in very different circumstances and feel comfortable with having fans back. ‘UEFA felt there should be a consistent approach for September and they applied that.’ But Bullingham believes that stance may change in October. ‘There could well be a circumstance in October where you get a different approach because the pandemic is so hard to predict,’ he added.