ANKARA 

Bayern Munich said Friday that the German football powerhouse will play their home matches without fans in the seats until the end of 2021 as part of coronavirus measures.  

"FC Bayern Munich's home matches against Barcelona (8 December) in the Champions League and against 1. FSV Mainz 05 (11 December) and VfL Wolfsburg (17 December) in the Bundesliga must therefore be played behind closed doors at the Allianz Arena," the club said, adding that all tickets for matches were canceled and will be refunded.

Bayern Munich said the Bavarian state government approved tight measures Friday to stem the spread of the virus.

"This includes a ban on spectators at large, cross-region sporting events until the end of the year in the Free State of Bavaria," it added.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Germany's disease control agency, said 74,352 new infections were recorded in the past 24 hours with 390 coronavirus-related fatalities.