Danish Soccer Team to Play With Fans Projected in Virtual, Zoom Grandstand

The Danish soccer team AGF Aarhus is planning to celebrate the re-start of Danish soccer by projecting fans into the team's home stadium using the digital video platform Zoom.

Per the team's official release, fans will be able to pick up a free ticket to their match against Randers FC on May 28 and select a location in one of 22 different sections. Fans will then be able to watch from the virtual grandstands. 

"So also, the players of the match will be able to see and feel the support from the living rooms directly at the stadium—at a healthy distance, but still close at heart and to the football," the club in a release.

Amid the coronavirus pandemic, sports teams and leagues are forced to wrestle with potentially playing games without fans in attendance. Last weekend, the German Bundesliga returned behind closed doors, as each of the club's teams resumed action in fan-less games. Borussia Monchengladbach will be staging its first home game since the shutdown with plastic cutouts of fans in its stadium. A South Korean club, FC Seoul, came under scrutiny for its efforts to fill its stadium, saying it inadvertently used sex dolls among the mannequins sitting in the seats.

Aarhus isn't the only Danish club to show some ingenuity, with FC Midtjylland setting up a drive-in movie experience for around 2,000 cars outside of its stadium when matches resume.

The Danish Superliga is scheduled to return on May 28. Aarhus is third in the league with 40 points through 23 matches.