After the fan riots at Hertha BSC’s away game at Dynamo Dresden, both clubs condemn the events. At the same time, they fear a setback in the fight to preserve fan culture in Germany.
The riots at the game between Dynamo Dresden and Hertha BSC caused a lack of understanding and anger across all clubs. “We are for a lively fan culture. But as soon as violence is involved and you get the idea of shooting other people with pyrotechnics, it stops for me,” said Hertha managing director Peter Görlich.
The images of flying Bengalos and hunting scenes with the police on the pitch come at a time when stadium security and fan interests are already being discussed emotionally in German football. Now – those responsible feared on Saturday evening – they could become a setback in the fight to preserve fan culture.
Görlich: “We are slowly running out of arguments”
“This is of course grist to the mill of the big critics. We are aware of that,” said Görlich. You have to “ask yourself where is the line of argument that we can still talk about it. We are slowly running out of arguments.” At the same time, the 58-year-old warned that in the discussion about the stadium ban guidelines, one should “not make the mistake of generalizing everything and directly linking this issue to it.”
The Hertha BSC club management had recently repeatedly defended its own fans in discussions about security and alleged violence in stadiums. Especially after a game against Schalke 04, when there was one controversial police operation before the east curve in the Olympic Stadium.
Zimmermann: “Hit the office”
Dresden’s managing director Stephan Zimmermann sounded similar to Göhrlich in a statement from the association. He and numerous other clubs have been lobbying politicians “for months for fan interests and a safe stadium experience.” “Such scenes are an absolute blow to the office,” he emphasized.
Dynamo Dresden’s home games are known for a unique atmosphere. “Images like the ones we saw this evening are unacceptable and are massively damaging not only to our club, but to all of football in Germany,” said Zimmermann.
During the encounter, those responsible for Dynamo spoke to the senior police forces “in order to exchange initial findings through communication. These perceptions and observations are now part of the fundamental processing,” says the statement.
Politics increases pressure on football, fans point out Security statistics
Politicians have increased the pressure on football in recent months. For example, the interior ministers of North Rhine-Westphalia and Saxony, Herbert Reul and Armin Schuster (both CDU), no longer ruled out that clubs would have to pay for police costs for high-risk games in the future. The clubs could then face costs running into millions. The Federal Constitutional Court (BVerfG) had decided that the states could charge the clubs fees.
Various fan associations have recently repeatedly emphasized that the stadiums are safe from their point of view – not least with a large, cross-fan camp demonstration in Leipzig. Football fans from all over Germany repeatedly referred to current statistics from the Central Information Center for Sports Operations (ZIS) at the North Rhine-Westphalia police. This actually shows that as the total number of fans in the stadiums increases, the numbers in terms of injuries and investigations initiated are declining.
“For football Germany very disappointing”
For Hertha coach Stefan Leitl, the riots marred his joy over his team’s important 1-0 victory, which catapulted the Berliners back into the promotion race. “I was approached, what outweighs? I’m happy for my team. I’m happy that we won the game because it’s about sport. Everything else has no place on the football pitch. What unfortunately happened here in Dresden this evening is very disappointing for football Germany,” said Leitl.
Broadcast: rbb|24, April 5th, 2026, 1:30 p.m
Audio: rbb|24, April 5th, 2026, Jonas Bürgener in conversation with Johannes Mohren
