DFB demands record sum
Cologne receives draconian punishment for pyrotechnics
December 13, 2023, 2:26 p.m
A red smoke wall and a delay in the game are now costing 1. FC Köln dearly. In the derby against Borussia Mönchengladbach, the fans of the Bundesliga club put on a pyrotechnic show that not everyone liked. The DFB is tough, the club is fighting back.
Bundesliga soccer team 1. FC Cologne is to pay a record fine of 595,000 euros because of the large-scale burning of pyrotechnics by its fans during the derby against Borussia Mönchengladbach (3-1). The FC has received a corresponding criminal complaint from the control committee of the German Football Association (DFB), like the 16th in the table. announced. However, the first Bundesliga champion wants to “apply to the DFB control committee to significantly reduce the penalty”.
The association considers “the DFB’s approach of assessing the events without reflection and partially applying a standardized sentencing guideline to be wrong,” the Cologne-based team explained. “In our view, this approach is absolutely missing the mark,” FC managing director Christian Keller was quoted as saying in a club statement: “The awarding of association penalties in this form is far removed from the reality of German football and fan culture. That is why we will continue to be active and emphatic for a sensible adaptation of the sentencing guidelines and for an appropriate way of dealing with this culture.”
Cologne fans lit numerous pyrotechnic objects in the south stand area on October 22nd before and during the derby against arch-rivals from Mönchengladbach. The massive smoke development delayed the kick-off by more than six minutes.
Faeser wants stricter sanctions for pyrotechnics
“The derby was intensively prepared by our security and fan representatives as well as the security authorities,” explained Keller: “Basically, this case again shows that a general ban on pyrotechnics in football does not have a sufficient effect. The use of pyrotechnics is for the active fan scene a part of football and fan culture.”
However, according to Keller, “no red lines should be crossed.” Specifically, the safety of spectators must always be guaranteed and there must be no impact on the sporting events. “These limits were clearly exceeded against Gladbach. This also results in enormous financial damage. The high fine hits the FC very hard on the path to economic recovery as quickly as possible,” said the FC managing director.
Just last week, pyrotechnics was also a topic at the Conference of Interior Ministers (IMK). The topic “possible changes to the explosives law to more strictly restrict and sanction the carrying of pyrotechnics” was discussed – and for Federal Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, the urgency is apparently beyond question. So far, carrying them is legal – this can also be seen on New Year’s Eve. At the beginning of the year, Faeser rejected a general, nationwide ban on firecrackers.
According to fan researcher Harald Lange from the University of Würzburg, a ban in football would be of no use anyway: “The harsher the punishments, the more rigorous the sanctions against pyrotechnics, the more interesting it becomes for fans to set off pyrotechnics and thereby indicate: ‘The stadium, that Game, it’s ours!'” he told NDR.