Munich (dpa) – According to a study, there is significantly more violence in the host cities in Germany on days with professional football games.
“Soccer games in the first to third leagues lead to 21.5 percent more acts of violence there than would otherwise be expected on the respective weekdays,” explained Helmut Rainer from Munich’s Ifo Institute on Wednesday. “Victims are mainly young men between the ages of 18 and 29. But almost a fifth of the additional violence on matchdays can be explained by attacks on police officers.”
For the study, the economic researchers analyzed data sets from municipalities in Germany from January 2011 to May 2015. In this period, the Ifo estimates the number of simple physical injuries in connection with football at 38,268. The costs caused by this are estimated at 194 million euros – 44 million per year. Among other things, costs for the police, public prosecutors and courts due to loss of earnings and medical treatment were taken into account.
A large proportion of the acts of violence are committed in the “search for recognition as a member of a fan group,” said Ifo expert Rainer. Fan groups of the opposing team and the police are perceived as threatening outside groups against which one’s own reputation has to be defended.