With tasteless provocations, parts of the Ultras intensified the protests in the investor dispute with the DFL at the northern duel between Hamburg and Hanover. The clubs are wondering how this will all continue.
Three men in the crosshairs, a game on the verge of being canceled – and great worries about further escalation: In the northern duel between Hamburger SV and Hannover 96 in the 2nd Bundesliga, the investor dispute between the Ultras and the German Football League (DFL) reached the next level Protest level. The gap is getting deeper and deeper, and sport is becoming a minor matter.
Hanover’s coach Leitl on fan protests: “It’s just annoying”
Stefan Leitl sat depressed on the podium in the catacombs of Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion. Actually, he is “super happy”said Hannover’s coach. His team defeated HSV 4-3 in a wild second division game and can dream of returning to the Bundesliga again. But some of Leitl’s own supporters ruined the evening.
Michael Maske, Sportschau, February 10, 2024 11:40 a.m
“You always hear: Football belongs to the fans. But football also belongs to the footballers”said Leitl angrily: “What happened today has no place in a stadium. It’s just annoying.”
Protests against DFL investor: game in Hamburg shortly before being canceled
Posters with portraits in crosshairs appeared in the guest block, including the head of Hanover’s managing director Martin Kind. The game was about to be abandoned, but after a half-hour break, referee Sören Storks continued the match. Hannover won with a goal in stoppage time, HSV lost at home for the third time in a row.
A spectator on the pitch in Hamburg
The offensive spectacle, the fight for promotion, the two dismissals for HSV in the final phase: everything faded into the background. Hanover’s sports director Marcus Mann made this clear. “It cannot and must not continue as it is at the moment.”he said: “The mood in the stadium threatens to change at some point.”
First half Union – Wolfsburg lasts an hour and a half
The protests also caused long interruptions in the first division game on Saturday between Union Berlin and VfL Wolfsburg. The first half lasted an hour and a half, and referee Martin Jöllenbeck threatened to stop the game if another tennis ball was thrown onto the field. The fans then showed themselves disciplined.
The mood is more tense than ever
The mood at almost all first and second division clubs is more tense than ever before. Tennis balls and chocolate coins are flying everywhere on the lawn, and further, louder, more uncompromising protests against the entry of an external donor into the DFL have long been a foregone conclusion. “I am sure that games will be interrupted again this weekend because the DFL has not made an offer that is even remotely worth negotiating.”said Thomas Kessen, spokesman for the “Our Curve” alliance.
CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen of Bayern Munich criticized the excesses of the protests in the “Welt am Sonntag”. It’s going in “Some ultra scenes are no longer about football, but primarily about a demonstration of power.” This “unfair” The member of the DFL Presidium emphasized that the game would be influenced “Doesn’t change the fundamental attitude of the majority of the 36 Bundesliga clubs.”
Child at the center
The two were also on the crosshairs of the Hanover fans CEOs of possible DFL investors. The tasteless banners disappeared at some point, but they will still have consequences, as Kind himself announced: “There will be reactions. End!”he told “HAZ”.
Child plays a central role in the dispute between some of the fans and the DFL. The managing director of the professional department in Hanover is said to have voted for the entry of an investor at the DFL general meeting in December, contrary to his club’s instructions. Without Kind’s vote, the deal would have failed. Since then, the fan soul has been boiling.
A solution has to be found
In Hamburg, the home fans also protested and chained bicycle locks into the goal nets. The delay annoyed players, coaches and many spectators, but it was the posters in the visitors’ block that caused horror. “They are an absurdity”said Hanover’s sports director Mann and pleaded: “We have to find a solution.”