About the 2022/23 season: UEFA is again allowing standing room in the European Cup

The UEFA Executive Committee has approved the proposal to allow standing room in Europe again – as a test. This means that fans in Germany, England and France can stand in the 2022/23 season. The measure is initially valid for one season.

According to information from the sports show, the members of the UEFA Executive Committee voted in a vote by email on Tuesday (July 26, 2022) for the provisional return of standing room. Accordingly, it should initially be allowed for one season in the stadiums of the European Cup participants from England, Germany and France to offer standing room in the European club competitions Champions League, Europa League and Europa Conference League. Standing should therefore be possible for guest fans if the clubs want it. Clubs from Spain and Italy would also have been allowed, but none of the European Cup participants from these countries currently have standing room.

The measure is a “monitoring program” by UEFA. If successful, the standing room permit could be extended and extended to other countries. It would mean the end of UEFA’s seat ban for international matches, which has been in place for decades.

Around 25,000 standing places possible on Dortmund’s south stand

An important detail: According to information from the sports show, standing room should be reserved for the relevant European Cup games “in accordance with national and local laws” to be possible. The south stand of Borussia Dortmund, for example, could obviously be filled with around 25,000 standing fans in the Champions League as in the Bundesliga. In the past, most Bundesliga clubs converted their standing room grandstands for the games in Europe with seating modules at short notice.

Union Berlin could avoid moving to the Olympic Stadium in the Europa League as a result of the UEFA measure, provided that the planning still allows for it. The ratio of standing to seating is unusual at Union: there are more than 18,000 standing places at the Alte Försterei, but less than 4,000 seats. Eight German clubs are taking part in UEFA competitions in the 2022/23 season.

In June 2018, UEFA took a similar approach to the alcohol issue. At that time, the general ban on UEFA competitions was lifted and since then what has been permitted by law and by local authorities in the respective country – as is now the case for standing room for the time being.

International matches initially continue with compulsory seats

International matches are initially not included in the regulation for the return of standing room. The German national team will play their last two group matches in the Nations League on September 23 in London (Wembley) against England and on September 26 in Leipzig against Hungary.

In a test against Italy in Nuremberg planned for March 2020, the DFB had planned standing room for the first time in an international match. Standing room is an integral part of the stadium experience in Germany, said the then DFB President Fritz Keller in the run-up to the scheduled game: “It can’t be any different for the national team, which has supporters from all groups in society.” However, the onset of the coronavirus pandemic prevented the game from being played.

Are currently partially possible in England and France

The so-called “safe standing” was introduced in England last season. Several top clubs such as Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool FC, Chelsea FC and Tottenham Hotspur, as well as Wembley Stadium for international matches, are also participating in the model. In Italy and Spain there is currently hardly any standing room in the top leagues with a few exceptions such as Athletic Bilbao. In France, standing room has been allowed again since 2018, where it was banned by law in the 1990s.

At the end of April, UEFA reported in a statement about an exchange with the fan alliance Football Supporters Europe (FSE). and mentioned thereinthat it “an investigation into safe standing in stadiums” will give. FSE challenged UEFA 2019 in an open letter to revoke the ban on standing room. be it “unjustified and outdated”it was said at the time. “Standing places are absolutely safe. This is evident week after week in football stadiums across the continent, for example in Germany.”

Disasters: Standing places were considered the cause in politics

Seating has been mandatory at international games for decades. In the wake of the Heysel disasters in Belgium in 1985, which killed 39 people, and Hillsborough in 1989, which killed 97 people, standing room was considered one of the causes in politics, although later the structural conditions of the stadiums, the organization or the failure of the police and security forces were identified as reasons .

In England, standing room disappeared from stadiums after the so-called “Taylor Report” in the British Parliament. This report by a Member of Parliament included the complete removal of all standing areas as the main demand for Hillsborough. UEFA adopted this principle in 1998. Especially under the presidency of Michel Platini from 2007 to 2015, there was little willingness to talk about the topic in UEFA. Platini was on the pitch as a Juventus player in Heysel in 1985 and always associated the death of people with standing room.

Active fan groups prevented “seating” in Germany

In Germany, too, the general introduction of seats was considered in the 1990s. However, the commitment and protests of active fan groups from numerous clubs in Germany resulted in the project being abandoned. Even in the course of the construction and renovation of many stadiums for the 2006 World Cup, standing room was retained. Almost all stadiums in German professional football currently have standing room.