A week and a half before the Norway-Netherlands match in Olival, the Norwegian Football Association has a number of questions: Can the Netherlands attend? How many stands? What if someone shows a positive result?
Oslo City Council member Raymond Johansen (Labour) is highly critical of the treatment the Norwegian Football Association receives from the Ministry of Culture led by Abed Raja (V).
The National Football Association (NFF) is still awaiting confirmation that the entire Dutch team will indeed be allowed into Norway. The match was already played on September 1. Until next Wednesday.
This is what NFF is waiting for:
- Answers to If you get a bigger audience. NFF will own 75 percent of the capacity, about 20,000 spectators. Currently, only 7,000 spectators are allowed.
- We also didn’t get an answer as to whether we could, like the rest of Europe, have a scheme where the test could replace quarantine for infection if there were one or more positive tests on the team. This is also important to us, because now that the rules are in place, we risk having to cancel international matches due to injury in the opposing team’s squad, says NFF Elite Manager Liz Clavins.
- – We have received verbal assurances that the Netherlands will be allowed in, but so far they are not officially allowed in, says Clavens.
She points out that most members of the Dutch team have only been vaccinated once, so such entry from the Red Country is not permitted without its own exception.
Foreign football players are not included in the list of athletes who are exempt from entry restrictions.
– This is futile, according to Oslo City Council member Raymond Johansen (Labour), who is asking the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Health to ensure better dialogue and a quick response.
The first commandment is to treat football and the Football Association with respect. This is Norway’s biggest event of the year and for a very long time. You should be able to get clear answers, he says.
– Then I ask the ministries to consider strongly whether it is possible to open a stadium that is half full. The NFF has offered an inspiring scheme for confidence, says Johansen, who notes that there are now floods of people in parks in Oslo, Bergen and Trondheim regarding care weeks, and that there are many places where many meet with less control than would be the case Here.
– They should give a quick answer. It is important to have a good relationship of trust with the largest sport in the largest volunteer sector. The fact that a Norwegian audience can be present means a lot to both the performers and the Norwegian people.
Ask them to reconsider and reflect on their answers. He says it is urgent.
On Monday morning, the Ministry of Culture informed VG that the NFF application was still being processed.
The Ministry of Culture also received criticism from Raymond Johansen, but did not respond to it.
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“We’ve tried to get out early with all these questions because we know we depend on some predictability and constant dialogue with the authorities to prepare well enough, give our opponents an explanation early enough and play our football well,” Clavins says.
– That’s why we contacted the authorities about the first fall match – a crucial World Cup qualifier, several months ago, she says.
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