The “Fan Scenes in Germany” network is taking the protest against the security measures planned by the Conference of Interior Ministers to the streets. A fan demo has been registered for Sunday in Leipzig. The national team plays there on Monday.
Almost exactly fifteen years have passed since a nationwide fan demonstration was last held. Back in October 2010, up to 10,000 people came together in Berlin “For the preservation of fan culture” to demonstrate. The demonstration marked the start of further fan campaigns in the following years. Sometimes the fans campaigned for the unpunished use of pyrotechnics, sometimes they protested against the entry of investors into the DFL. Or spoke out against what they saw as excessive security concepts.
The next step of the protests
Now the “fan scenes of Germany” are calling for next Sunday (11/16/25) in Leipzig under the motto “Football is safe! No more populism – yes to fan culture!” another demonstration. It is directed against them “Repressive fan policy of the Interior Ministers’ Conference” (IMK), whose next meeting is planned for early December in Bremen. The demo is the next step in the protests against stricter security measures in the stadiums, which began on the last Bundesliga match day with banners in the fan curves.
It is not yet officially clear what exactly the interior ministers have planned as measures, but in the past few weeks it has repeatedly leaked out which measures are being discussed. Personalized tickets are currently being considered as a measure by domestic politicians, as is tightening stadium ban guidelines.
The interior ministers also seem to have clear ideas when it comes to dealing with pyrotechnics. There has recently been repeated talk of a “zero tolerance strategy” and a “step concept”, which observers clearly associate with game cancellations when pyrotechnics are used.
Mobilization has begun
Leipzig was probably not chosen as the location for the demonstration by chance. On the Monday after the planned demo, the men’s national team’s World Cup qualifier against Slovakia will take place there. The fans are keeping up their protest even on the weekend without league games.
So far, the organizers have registered 1,500 people, as the city of Leipzig tells the sports show. The official mobilization for the appointment is just beginning. “As things stand, there are no facts or findings that speak against holding the meeting.”a city spokesman told the sports show.
No matter how high the number of participants ultimately turns out to be, the organizers want the demonstration to take place “a sign of preserving fan culture, freedom and diversity in the stadium” a spokesman for the “Fan Scenes in Germany” told Sportschau. The measures demanded by the IMK, such as personalized tickets, the use of artificial intelligence to record spectators and stricter stadium bans, are viewed by the fan scenes as “disproportionate and unfounded” criticized.
“We don’t understand why now, of all times, the interior ministers’ conferences are coming around the corner with tightening measures.” All statistics clearly show that despite significantly more spectators in the stadiums, crimes have decreased and there are almost no injuries. “In our opinion, the politicians’ statements and demands give a completely false impression of the public, if one cannot even speak of a deliberate distortion of the facts.”
Security discussion despite safe stadiums
DFB President Bernd Neuendorf is also of the opinion that the stadiums are safe. At the DFB Bundestag on November 7th in Frankfurt, the general assembly declared: “Attending football in the stadium and on the amateur pitches is fundamentally safe. This is not just a subjective feeling. This is what facts and figures show us.”
By this, Neuendorf also means the current statistics from the Central Information Center for Sports Operations (ZIS) at the North Rhine-Westphalia police, which show that as the total number of fans in the stadiums increases, there are declining numbers in terms of injuries and investigations initiated. Nevertheless, since the security summit in 2024, there has been a clear expectation from politicians to improve security and tighten measures.
DFB and DFL under political pressure
Neuendorf also addresses this in a “circular after the 3rd meeting of the federal-state open working group (BLoAG) of the Conference of Interior Ministers with the DFB and DFL ‘Football without Violence'”, which the DFB President, together with DFL executive committee spokesman Hans-Joachim Watzke and DFL managing director Marc Lenz, sent to the boards and management of the clubs and corporations of the first three on Wednesday (11/12/25). sent football leagues.
The letter that the sports show has received states that “Clear demands were formulated by politicians at the top meeting with sports and interior ministers from the federal states in Munich in October 2024 and it was decided in the conference of interior ministers that organized football must expand measures to ensure stadium security, ban violent disruptors from the area around the stadiums and reduce police deployment hours.”.
Preliminary results after “significant controversy”
Due to the different points of view between football and politics, there are discussions “significant controversy” came, writes the trio. Nevertheless, preliminary compromises have been reached in the three BLoAG working groups, which will now serve as the basis for the upcoming Interior Ministers’ Conference. “However, there is still a significant need for coordination with regard to details and essential demands from football towards the authorities and politicians.”the letter says.
The preliminary results that were agreed upon include the following points:
- Establishment of a central authority at the DFB for legal and technical supervision with strong review, control and instruction rights with regard to stadium bans. A central and independent stadium ban commission demanded by politicians will not be implemented.
- In the three highest leagues, at least three, two and one reliability-checked safety officer must be employed full-time on a graduated basis.
- The minimum number of full-time fan representatives will be increased to six instead of the previous three in the Bundesliga and to three instead of the previous two in the 2nd Bundesliga
“There is none social Debate”
It is doubtful whether this can appease the fans’ criticism. A specific demand made by the organized fan scenes to the interior ministers in the run-up to the IMK is: “that the debate finally comes out of the backrooms of domestic politics”as the spokesman for the “Fan Scenes in Germany” network explains to Sportschau: “There is no social debate.”
Clubs, fan projects, fan aid and fan scenes would be left out, even the football associations DFB and DFL would not be comprehensively informed, and documents would remain secret. Not even parliamentary questions resulted in the public knowing exactly what the planned measures consisted of. “But what leaks out would be the nail in the coffin for fan culture.”
Observers of the scene expect that the planned demonstration in Leipzig will only be the start of further fan protests and actions in and around Germany’s stadium.