Football: Fan associations criticize the results of the football security summit

Fan organizations have expressed criticism of the results of the football safety summit from officials and politicians. Representative of the German Football Association (DFB), the Germans football League (DFL) and domestic politicians from the federal states had previously agreed on various measures to increase security around football games.

The agreed measures include, among other things, stricter action against individual game-goers who break the rules or become violent. In the future, a central commission will issue stadium bans against them and monitor the bans. The position should be at the DFL It was said after the meeting that their composition and working methods still need to be worked out.

“More repression against football fans”

Linda Röttig, board member of the umbrella organization for fan aid, spoke of a “German tightening and more repression against football fans” in view of the plans. Stadium bans are already “largely completely arbitrary and expressly carried out without completed legal proceedings”. DFB and DFL are too far away from the action to be able to assess incidents individually. This inaccuracy also contradicts constitutional principles. Röttig announced that the fans would “decisively” defend themselves against the action.

The organization Unser Kurve also believes that the planned introduction of a central commission for stadium bans is not expedient. Local stadium ban commissions have “proved themselves for more than ten years,” said the fan association. The “populist demands” that have now been formulated are the result of a process in which “people don’t talk to each other, but only about each other.”

After the meeting, DFB boss Bernd Neuendorf responded in part to the criticism: “We have to make those affected realize their goals.” In the future, fans should be involved in the work of the new commission.

Pyrotechnics is not a crime – but it remains prohibited

Officials and politicians want to stick to the general ban on pyrotechnics at football events. “It’s simply dangerous,” said DFL supervisory board chairman Hans-Joachim Watzke. The clubs as organizers of the games could not allow this. In addition, pyrotechnics “have very little to do with the actual football game.” Our curve, however, describes the ban as ineffective.

There should be no collective measures against fans in the future – contrary to what some state politicians have called for. This would include partial ghost games or closures of stands to deter violent so-called fans. According to Bavaria’s Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann, who hosted the summit in Munich, the demand was discussed briefly but was not discussed further. “Football as a whole does not have a problem with violence,” said Herrmann.

Unlike demonstrations, concerts or other large events, when playing football there are often discussions about the operational costs that arise from the misconduct of individual participants. According to the Central Information Center for Sports Operations, almost 26.5 million people attended games in the Bundesliga, the 2nd Bundesliga, the 3rd League, the DFB Cup and the UEFA club competitions in the 2022/2023 season. 1,176 injuries were registered, 220 of whom were police officers. There is currently no balance sheet for the 2023/24 season.