BGH judgment: DFB may continue to impose fines for fan offenses

Dispute over collective punishment
Judgment of the BGH: Bundesliga clubs are still liable for firecrackers and rockets from their fans

Pyrotechnics in the fan block: The proceedings before the BGH were initiated by FC Carl Zeiss Jena

© Revierfoto / Picture Alliance

For pyrotechnics in stadiums, clubs are liable for their supporters – and it should stay that way. As the Federal Court of Justice ruled, the DFB should continue to be able to impose fines on clubs for the offense of their fans.

The German Football Association (DFB) may continue to impose fines on clubs for the behavior of their supporters and spectators. The Federal Court of Justice (BGH) in Karlsruhe decided on Thursday that the practice would not violate any fundamental principles of the legal system. The penalties are to be assessed as a purely preventive measure; this is also permissible through no fault of the clubs. The regional league club FC Carl Zeiss Jena, who wanted to have the question clarified in principle – and was now defeated in the last instance, had sued.

The legal and procedural rules of the DFB stipulate that the clubs are liable for incidents in the stadium area. Jena, at that time still in the third division, should pay a total of almost 25,000 euros for disruptions to two home games and one away game in 2018. The club was unsuccessful before the competent arbitration tribunal. With the decision of the BGH, this arbitration award is now valid.

Carl Zeiss Jena reacts with incomprehension

The defeated FC Carl Zeiss Jena reacted with incomprehension to the judgment of the Federal Court of Justice on the liability of clubs in the event of misconduct by their fans. “We have to look at the verdict now and decide whether it is worth asking the Federal Constitutional Court again,” said Chris Förster, the manager of the regional soccer team, on Thursday. “Our argument was that we would be punished for something that we could not do anything for. And now the BGH has declared that it is not a punishment, but rather a preventive one.”

One speaks of a collective penalty when a sports court condemns a club after fan riots, for example, to play games in front of empty spectator blocks or even in an empty stadium. Then even peaceful supporters have to face the consequences of wrongdoing by others. The topic has been a political issue for many years in the disputes between the organized fan scene and the German Football Association.

Fans protest over collective penalties

The penalties regularly imposed by the DFB sports court have met with protests from fans for many years. “With regard to the fan scene, we are talking about a large number of young people, and most of them have a pronounced sense of justice,” said Michael Gabriel, head of the Fan Projects Coordination Office (KOS) in Frankfurt / Main. “This is regularly challenged by the specific penalty system in football, for example when large groups of fans are punished for the misconduct of individuals, the so-called collective penalties.”

yks
dpa

source site