Let’s talk about sex: Many fans will travel to the host cities for the European Championships. A dpa survey at host cities shows that more people are also expected to be attracted to sex workers.
First to the stadium, then to the brothel? Police, city administrations and sex workers are expecting a higher demand for prostitution during the European Football Championship.
However, estimates of how high this will be vary. Kolja-André Nolte from the Cologne-based professional association for erotic and sexual services, which claims to be the largest association of its kind in Europe with almost 1,000 members, does not expect a “huge rush” of clients, but rather a slight increase in demand. “We do not see any fear of being overwhelmed among our members, but rather an anticipation of a few more customers during the European Championships.”
More people interested in brothel and hotel prostitution
The Frankfurt police are expecting a significant increase in the number of prostitutes in the city. “The increase will have a significant impact on brothel and especially hotel prostitution,” said a spokesman.
“Street prostitution has always been significantly underrepresented in Frankfurt.” In addition, the concept of the Laufhaus has fundamentally lost its appeal for prostitutes. Rather, the pandemic-related trend away from organized structures such as brothels or sauna clubs towards more private offerings such as escort services, hotels or appointment apartments continues.
The city police, which is responsible for prostitution, primarily on the street – a separate unit alongside the Frankfurt police – has no knowledge of many prostitutes having announced their arrival. “But of course we expect it,” said head Matthias Heinrich. This is something we know from other large events or large trade fairs. “It’s quite clear that this leads to things like this.”
In Dortmund, too, a “high occupancy rate of the brothels here” is expected, according to press officer Christian Stein. And the city of Stuttgart assumes that more prostitutes will offer their services – in order to meet the increased demand.
Registered prostitutes are allowed to work throughout Germany
The cities cannot provide precise forecasts based on the official registrations of sex workers, for example – “because the registrations say nothing about the actual place of work of the prostitutes,” explains the city of Düsseldorf.
“Once registered, it is possible to work anywhere in Germany. Many prostitutes constantly move between several locations.” The city administration of the neighboring city also assumes “that a possible short-term increase in the supply of sexual services in Cologne will not be reflected in the number of registrations.”
John Heer, chairman of the Association of German Brothels, gives a rough estimate for Stuttgart, where he runs a brothel in the red light district: An estimated 30 to 40 additional women work in the city during the tournament. “But then we are of course moving back into the area of illegal prostitution,” says Heer. By comparison, the city estimates that around 400 people work as prostitutes in Stuttgart every day, mainly women.
There is concern that forced prostitution is also taking place on a large scale. Relevant articles abroad are advertising “how easy and legal it is to buy women in Germany,” said Leni Breymaier, the women’s policy spokeswoman for the SPD parliamentary group and founder of the parliamentary group on prostitution and pornography, recently in the “Rheinische Post”. And she continued: “We can assume that demand cannot be met by volunteers even during the European Championships and that there will therefore be even more forced prostitution.”
Association: Large trade fairs are better for business than football
How difficult it is to get to grips with sex work and the number of people who work in it voluntarily and, above all, involuntarily is also shown by discussions that are now heating up at the start of the tournament in 2024 with reference to the World Cup in Germany in 2006: A mid-five-figure number of forced prostitutes is said to have been working in Germany at that time.
However, the professional association for erotic and sexual services responds: “Neither before nor after the 2006 World Cup was there a significant increase in human trafficking in Germany. The ‘40,000 victims’ simply did not exist.” Supporters of a general ban on prostitution are behind the false reports.
Association spokesman Nolte explains that large trade fairs are actually generally better for business than football matches. Although many fan groups are made up of men, they are usually not familiar enough with each other to decide to visit a brothel together. Trade fairs are much better for the industry with many men travelling alone and lots of time in the evening.
The advice center for prostitutes in Stuttgart also does not expect more prostitutes to come to the city for the European Championships, said department head Christine Winzer. Although there are hardly any reliable figures, “the colleagues say: football and prostitution do not go together.” The men simply come to watch football.
More testing options and education
But Cologne will send out more street workers and the Düsseldorf health department, among others, will significantly increase its testing options for sexually transmitted infections on match days. The Frankfurt city police are planning to use patrols to combat street prostitution that takes place outside the designated tolerance zones.
And from Dortmund it says: “In order to protect women in particular, events and awareness campaigns are planned by local organizations and the health department.” The Nordic Model Federal Association, which is committed to eliminating discrimination against women in prostitution, has initiated a campaign: “#RedCardforClients – for a European Championship without buying sex.” It appeals to men and potential clients to “be a fan, but not to become a client.”