Elgin City allowed 220 fans for League Two match with Cowdenbeath
- Published
Elgin can host up to 220 home fans for Saturday's visit of Cowdenbeath
Elgin City have been given approval by Moray council to become just the fourth Scottish club to host fans since March.
The League Two club will have up to 220 season-ticket holders - the most they can accommodate amid social distancing measures - for Saturday's visit of Cowdenbeath.
Moray is in Level 1 in the Scottish government's tiered system, which allows a maximum of 300 fans at games.
Ross County and Inverness Caledonian Thistle are also allowed to host fans.
Elgin are the first club in the bottom two tiers to have supporters back this season.
It comes after SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster wrote to Nicola Sturgeon requesting an urgent meeting about the return of fans, to which the first minister responded that football cannot be treated "in isolation" of other industries.
Aberdeen are the only other club to have had supporters inside their stadium this season, when 300 fans attended a match against Kilmarnock as part of a pilot.
"I'm over the moon," said Elgin chairman Graham Tatters. "It's baby steps first and let's hope in a few months we can move on from that.
"We have adhered to every rule - social distancing, masks, temperature checks - so we just hope everything goes great on Saturday. It has been really hard work and stressful, we want to make sure tat we do it well so that we can set the example for everybody else and share our information."
Meanwhile, some Highland League clubs will also be able to have a restricted number of fans in attendance when their truncated season gets under way this weekend.
But the differing geographical coronavirus restrictions mean other matches will be played behind closed doors.
Highland League secretary Rod Houston said: "The procedures and processes in place are rigorous, it has been very challenging for clubs to get them organised.
"And this is not the principle source of employment for players so we have to be very careful about the crossover between places of work and football."