German soccer fan violence: Ministers push for personalized tickets

German interior ministers are debating new measures to combat violence in soccer stadiums during their spring conference in Hamburg. The discussions follow recent clashes between fans of Rayo Vallecano and Crystal Palace in Leipzig. Saxony's Interior Minister Armin Schuster is pushing for personalized tickets, a long-debated idea, arguing that current measures like a central registry for stadium bans are a step forward but not enough. He believes a binding model security concept for stadiums and progress on pyrotechnics are also necessary. Schuster pointed to the Conference League final in Leipzig, where immediate action was taken with UEFA's help to prevent identified troublemakers from entering the stadium, thanks to existing UEFA ticketing systems. He sees strong signals from recent DFB sports court rulings that support personalized tickets, enabling better control over stadium bans. Hesse's Interior Minister Roman Poseck also advocates for a strict ban on pyrotechnics but rejects mandatory personalized tickets, suggesting they should only be used exceptionally for high-risk matches. The DFB sports court recently imposed strict penalties after disturbances in a second-division match between Dynamo Dresden and Hertha BSC Berlin, including personalized tickets for the away team's contingent in future games between the two clubs.

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The model security concept must come.