DFB decides to pass on police costs for high-risk games

In the future, the German Football Association will not cover possible costs for police operations at high-risk games. If the association is called upon to pay additional costs incurred by the police through a fee notice, it will “pass these on at least in part to the respective home club.” The DFB Executive Board made this fundamental decision, as the association announced.

The background to the decision is a regulation of the state of Bremen confirmed by the Federal Constitutional Court, according to which charging fees in connection with high-risk events is generally legal. The legal dispute in Bremen affected the German Football League and Werder Bremen in particular.

Since the Saarland state government is currently planning a comparable regulation, the DFB felt compelled to make a fundamental decision on the possible distribution of costs.

Regardless, the association believes that charging for police costs »is still the wrong approach. The common goal of politics, police, associations and clubs must be to improve the security situation on site and reduce police deployment hours during football games. Neither is achieved through a fee regulation," said DFB President Bernd Neuendorf. They therefore continue to prefer “a cooperative approach in working with politicians and the police.”