Clubs form a work group to discuss police costs

15 May 2019 – The ordinary assembly of DFL Deutsche Fußball Liga has discussed the consequences of the ruling of the Federal Administrative Court on police costs in detail.  A work group, made up of club and DFL representatives, will address the fee notices of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen in depth.

At present, fees are only required in Bremen to provide additional police officers for “high-risk” matches. The Bremen Senate has announced that it will claim fees for past high-risk matches in Bremen that were previously not due after the Federal Administrative Court has submitted its written ruling, even though the legal dispute had initially been referred to the Higher Administrative Court in Bremen. According to the ruling of the Federal Administrative Court, costs specifically charged by the police must be reviewed in more detail.

The Federal Administrative Court considered in its ruling both the home club and DFL GmbH as co-organisers of the specific Bundesliga match. Both are thus liable for costs, meaning a settlement takes place between them internally, if the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen only make claims against DFL GmbH. However, DFL GmbH does not participate in proceeds from ticketing or other matchday profits, nor is it involved in the organising or running of any specific matches. Its contribution as co-organiser to the actual match is limited to its timely scheduling within the match schedule, so it must be clarified to what extent the home club, possibly with the participation of the visiting club, without which the high-risk match would not come about, must not only cover 50 percent of the fees but the full amount. Any DFL portion would be borne indirectly by all 36 clubs, although these police costs only arise in Bremen. Accordingly, besides SV Werder Bremen and the DFL, any clubs that have competed in the high-risk matches in question in Bremen (Eintracht Frankfurt, Hamburger SV, Hannover 96 and Borussia Mönchengladbach) are also part of the work group.

The establishment of some kind of fund to finance additional police expense in high-risk matches of the Bundesliga and Bundesliga 2 throughout Germany is still not up for debate. “The DFL is not an organisation that is financially disconnected from the 36 clubs. A DFL-funded pot would be indirectly funded by all 36 clubs, including clubs that are not involved in high-risk matches and that have no statutory fees in their state. If the DFL has to pay any fees, these will be borne indirectly by all clubs. To give a different impression would be dishonest. Such an approach still contradicts our legal view. In addition, it is still possible to take it to the Federal Constitutional Court,” explains DFL President Dr Reinhard Rauball.

In order to reduce the number of police hours, the DFL is open to any form of dialogue, regardless of the Bremen cost issue. “We have to come up with solutions together with policymakers, the police, the judicial system, fan groups, clubs and associations. This is an ongoing task,” says Dr Rauball: “The most important prerequisite is trust-based communication of the people acting on site. That’s what we should work towards – as it was last successfully implemented in the so-called ‘stadium alliances’. In order to achieve practical improvements in this way, we would like to address the strengthening of preventative work to the Conference of Interior Ministers.”

On 29 March this year, the Federal Administrative Court had in principle declared the determination of the Bremen Fees and Contribution Act, in which the co-payment is regulated, and the fee notice issued on the occasion of the match between SV Werder Bremen and HSV on 19 April 2015, to be lawful. However, several aspects of the legal dispute for further negotiations were referred back to the Higher Administrative Court in Bremen. The possibility of finally resorting to the Federal Constitutional Court remains unaffected.