RIYADH — Vaccinated football fans in Saudi Arabia will be allowed to attend the national team's match against Palestine on Tuesday at 40 percent of the stadium capacity, the Ministry of Sports announced on Monday. The match is part of the joint Asian qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup and the 2023 Asian Cup. In a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency, the ministry said that all fans can attend sports events at 40 percent of the stadium capacity, beginning from May 17. The ministry, however, clarified that the entry will be available only for those who show "immune" status on the Tawakkalna application. "Based on the approval of the authorities concerned with following up the developments of coronavirus, 40 percent of the immunized people were allowed to attend the match of the Saudi national team with its Palestinian counterpart on Tuesday at Mrsool Park Stadium," the statement said. The King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh is named after Mrsool Park in Nov. 2020. The stadium watched an international friendly match between the Saudi national team with its Kuwait counterpart on March 25. Abdulelah Al-Amri's second-half goal gave Saudi Arabia a 1-0 win over Kuwait in the match. It is noteworthy that fans have not been allowed to enter stadiums to watch football matches since March 2020 following the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
