BTSV away game in Berlin
Fans announce protest action: “For the preservation of fan culture”
November 21, 2025 – 1:48 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Twelve minutes of silence: German stadiums sometimes seem to be unusually quiet at the weekend. The fans of Eintracht Braunschweig also want to take part in the protest.
4,000 people from Braunschweig will travel to Eintracht’s away game on Friday Hertha BSC (Kick-off: 6.30 p.m.). Nevertheless, it will probably remain quiet at times in the guest block of the Berlin Olympic Stadium – and not just there. “We will spend the first 12 minutes of the game in silence!” write Germany’s fan scenes in a joint announcement. These were also shared by fan organizations Eintracht Braunschweig. The headline: “For the preservation of fan culture”.
Last Sunday there were already several thousand football fans in Leipzig protested against the planned political measures in German stadiums. According to police, around 8,000 supporters from 38 clubs were there. The umbrella organization for fan aid said there were more than 20,000 fans from over 50 clubs.
The fan scenes in Germany consider the measures apparently planned by the interior ministries to be excessive and one-sided. Specifically, the dissatisfaction of organized fans is directed against centrally ordered stadium bans, the personalization of tickets and what they see as widespread surveillance. The criticism of the fan scenes: football supporters are increasingly being treated as a security risk.
Nationwide fan networks, including the association Unser Kurve and the Alliance of Active Football Fans, sharply criticized the actions of the “Federal-State Open Working Group” (BLoAG) in a statement before the demo in Leipzig. In recent months, at the invitation of the Conference of Interior Ministers (IMK), representatives from politics, the police, the German Football Association (DFB), the German Football League (DFL) and the Coordination Office for Fan Projects (KOS) have discussed security in football stadiums in the BLoAG.
“We firmly reject the previously known suggestions and measures,” said a letter from the fan networks that was addressed to the interior ministers and senators of the federal states. The fans also complained that the “previous work process was shielded and, in our view, deliberately carried out without the involvement of clubs and fans.” The networks are therefore calling for “the BLoAG process to be stopped and for further resolutions to be refrained from at the upcoming Interior Ministers’ Conference” from December 3rd to 5th.
The next step in the protest is now apparently taking place in the stadiums. After standing up for the cause with flags and chants in Leipzig, there will now be no fan material or support in the corners for twelve minutes, according to the fans’ announcement.
According to the supporters, the clubs now also have a duty. They are encouraged to “defend these plans with all available resources and options,” said the fans. The planned changes would destroy free fan culture and massively and unfoundedly intervene in the club’s structures. The years of work by clubs and their partners are being “trampled on” without any reason.