German organisers confirmed on Wednesday that football fans would be allowed to consume alcohol at next month’s World Cup finals.
The organising committee said it was always the plan to sell beer at the 12 World Cup stadiums, although police have the right to order alcohol bans for matches they consider to be at risk from hooligans.
”Only the police can decide whether to ban the sale of alcohol for any particular game,” Jens Grittner, a spokesperson for the World Cup organising committee, told Agence France-Presse.
Football’s world governing body, Fifa, sparked outrage in Germany when they ruled that Budweiser would be the only beer on sale to fans at the stadiums.
A compromise deal was struck to allow German brewer Bitburger to also sell its products.
The 64-match World Cup begins on June 9 and concludes on July 9. — Sapa-AFP