Thursday, November 4th, 2021
DFB may impose fines
Football fan association rages after BGH judgment
Can the DFB impose fines on clubs for the misconduct of their fans? The eagerly awaited ruling by the Federal Court of Justice confirms the DFB’s legal opinion and leaves disappointed fan associations. You criticize “conditions like in the Middle Ages”.
The German Football Association (DFB) may continue to impose fines on clubs for the misconduct of their fans. This was decided by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe and thus rejected a complaint from the regional league club Carl Zeiss Jena. The previous approach of the DFB does not violate public order, it said. Fines are to be classified “as a preventive measure”.
Because of three pyrotechnics incidents, Jena was sentenced to a fine of around 25,000 euros by the DFB sports court in 2018, but the then third division team resisted. The lawsuit before the competent higher regional court was unsuccessful. The legal and procedural rules of the DFB stipulate that the clubs in the stadium area are liable for incidents of any kind “before, during and after the game”.
The “fine” does not represent “a penalty-like sanction”, rather it should “ensure the future proper gaming operations”, the BGH has now ruled. Clubs should be encouraged “in the future to use all means available to them in order to have a moderating effect on their supporters and thus to prevent future rioting by the audience”.
DFB feels confirmed
The DFB sees itself as “unreservedly confirmed in its opinion” by the BGH decision, as interim president Rainer Koch announced. It was “conclusively and beyond doubt that the DFB judicial bodies on the one hand continue their work on the basis of the guidelines for the work of the DFB control committee without restriction,” he said, “and on the other hand, they have the support and participation of the clubs that are different than the DFB have access to their supporters to ensure trouble-free game operations. “
Jena’s managing director Chris Förster was “disappointed” with the verdict. “It feels like a punishment for us. If it were really available to us as a club as a preventive measure, we’d think it would be better,” he said. “These fines are sensitive and not insignificant for clubs, whether small or large.” The club is examining a possible complaint before the Federal Constitutional Court.
The umbrella organization of fan aid has sharply criticized. “This is kin as we only know it from the Middle Ages and clearly shows that distributing collective punishments with a watering can is disproportionate,” said fan representative Danny Graupner. We cannot understand that the BGH with its judgment “also approves the disproportionate passing on of the association penalties to individual football fans”.