John Swinney has warned last week's League Cup final between Celtic and Hibs could have been a “super spreader" event for the Omicron variant of coronavirus.
The Deputy First Minister said he regretted the limit on supporter numbers was not in place for the match at Hampden Park on Sunday which saw 48,000 in attendance.
Nicola Sturgeon today announced a 500 fan cap for outdoor events will begin on Boxing Day - a curb that will effectively make football matches spectator free for at least three weeks.
New Year is traditionally a busy time for football in Scotland with sell-out matches involving the Old Firm and Edinburgh derby.
The restriction has again raised questions about why the curb was not imposed for the final, which Celtic won 2-1.
Swinney told BBC Radio Scotland: "It stands to reason that if we have large numbers of people, 50,000 fans, travelling towards a sporting event in one particular part of the country, using multiple modes of transport and interacting with each other, there is a very high danger that that will be a super spreader of an event.”
Asked whether the cup final has the potential to be a super spreader event, the DFM replied: “It could well be and I think I regret the fact that we didn't make this decision earlier.”
He added: “I would have wished we'd taken the decision earlier. That's nobody's fault. I was one of the people involved in the decision.”
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