January 14 – In a landmark ruling, a German court has established that football can be billed for the costs of policing during high-risk matches.
Bringing to an end a ten-year legal dispute, the Federal Constitutional Court in Karlsruhe ruled that federal states can charge for police costs.
“The additional costs of police operations are to be borne not solely by taxpayers, but also by the economic beneficiaries of the police operations. This is a constitutionally legitimate goal,” said Stephan Harbarth. president of the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany.
In 2015, the state of Bremen, following the derby between Werder Bremen and Hamburger SV, issued the German Football League (DFL) a first bill of €425,000 for police operations, but the DFL objected. The league has repeatedly argued that ensuring public safety outside stadiums is a core state responsibility that should be financed from tax revenues.
Fan Group Unsere Kurve criticised the ruling, arguing “that this could cause long-term serious harm to the state order of the Federal Republic of Germany. In the view of Unsere Kurve and in line with the opinions of countless experts, ensuring public safety and order is a core task of the state.”
The group’s chairman added: “With today’s ruling, police work becomes a simple service. It is now essential that clubs be granted decision-making power in police deployment planning, and that oversized police operations finally come to an end.”
In France and Italy, clubs are billed for police costs, but following the ruling much may depend on the individual states in Germany. Chairman of the DFL board Hans-Joachim Watzke has ruled out the idea of a joint fund for professional clubs to cover police costs.
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