“I would like to thank the representatives of VfL Wolfsburg, Hannover 96 and Eintracht Braunschweig for the extremely constructive exchange on the topic of violence in football and stadium security with a view to the upcoming season.
Today, the focus was initially on a review of the past season, which once again impressively showed us that we are facing a major common challenge when it comes to violence in stadiums: All police figures on disturbances, crimes and injuries have risen continuously since the end of the Corona pandemic, and recently even significantly.
Looking ahead, everyone involved agreed today: things cannot continue like this, we need to reverse this trend! Politicians and clubs have a clear shared position: violence in the stadium is not acceptable. I see the clubs as allies in the fight against violence. That is why I am glad that everyone involved was able to agree on clear key points as targets for the new season. We want to:
– a safe football experience in the stadium
– less violence and vandalism in the stadium
– fewer injuries
– fewer police on duty
– less pyrotechnics in the stadium, especially when used as a weapon
Football has a special significance in our society. It brings people with different lifestyles and different social backgrounds together. But it also has a role model function, which is something that clubs must live up to. Violence must never be accepted as ‘part of the spectacle’.
The clubs are responsible for the structural and technical-organizational measures. The police provide intensive consultations at the venues.
In the Lower Saxony derby in particular, the measures taken by the clubs so far have not significantly improved the situation in the stadiums. Recently there has even been more violence, more riots and vandalism, and the personnel costs and deployment costs of the police are unacceptably high. Visitors no longer feel that football at these games is safe. A violent minority is causing considerable disruption, injuries and destruction. Excluding away fans therefore still seems to me to be an effective measure to prevent dangers for all peaceful stadium visitors. However, I am still open to suitable and convincing measures that allow the games to be held with away fans and without an escalation of violence. The clubs have a duty to present reliable proposals by the time ticketing for the first derby starts in October, otherwise we will have to order an exclusion of away fans.”
