Stadium bans: Politics and soccer plan central office

In future, there is to be a central commission for stadium bans in German soccer. The interior ministries and the heads of the DFB and DFL agreed at a meeting in Munich to ban rioters and violent offenders from stadiums more uniformly in future. A corresponding commission is to be formed and set up at the German Football League, said Bavaria's Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann (CSU) following the meeting. Details are still to be discussed.

According to Saxony's Interior Minister Armin Schuster, who sat at the table on behalf of the CDU-led states, there is currently a disproportion between convictions of football-related offenders and stadium bans. He could understand that clubs have a problem with taking the toughest measures against club members. Only a central commission, which has no conflicts of interest, could bring this into a reasonable balance.

Security expenditure for soccer should not be greater than for an AC/DC concert

According to Schuster, it must be possible to bring the level of public investment in security for soccer up to the level of any other sporting or cultural event. The expenditure should not be greater than for an AC/DC concert or an ice hockey match. "Once we have achieved this in soccer, we will be in the right place."

In a position paper for the top-level discussion on "Violence in Football", the states of Bavaria, Hamburg, Lower Saxony and Saxony stated that stadium bans are handled very differently by the respective clubs. "At some clubs, stadium bans are processed without any problems, while at other clubs, stadium bans are sometimes not issued or are issued with such a delay that the purpose of the stadium ban is hardly given," the paper states.

While politicians believe that a more consistent exclusion of fans from soccer arenas will lead to less violence, critics of the measure see no effectiveness and instead call for more dialog.

Pyrotechnics in stadiums remain taboo

In their position paper, the federal states recommend the purchase of powerful video technology in order to be able to identify suspects. The use of pyrotechnics in stadiums is still rejected. The use of pyrotechnics in soccer stadiums - regardless of the criminal or regulatory assessment - is generally a danger to public safety, as bystanders are specifically at risk, it says.