In the 2022/23 season, professional soccer was no longer subject to restrictions for the entire season for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic and its effects. More than 26 million fans visited the stadiums during this period. For the current ZIS annual report, the Central Sports Information Service (ZIS) based at the North Rhine-Westphalia State Office for Central Police Services (LZPD NRW) analyzed 1,157 matches in the top three divisions and a further 1,647 matches in the five regional leagues. In order to put the key figures into perspective, the data for the 2022/23 season was compared with the last season (2018/19), which was also played without restrictions.
More spectators in the stadiums again
In the first season after coronavirus, fans took up the offer in large numbers and flocked back to the stadiums. Compared to the 2018/19 season, the number of spectators increased by around 2.6% to 26.48 million.
This was also noticeable in terms of the workload of the police authorities of the federal states and the federal government for direct operational management. This amounted to 2,418,193 hours during soccer matches in the reporting period. This represents an increase of 9.7% with almost the same number of matches.
According to the police authorities, the number of people with a tendency towards violence or even actively seeking it increased slightly by 234 to 13,608 among supporters of the 54 clubs in the top three leagues.
In the post-corona phase, a total of 1,176 people were injured, an increase of 49 people, including 220 police officers. Last season, the police authorities initiated 6,549 criminal proceedings for offenses such as assault, resistance, breach of the peace or damage to property and carried out more than 8,100 custodial/restrictive measures. "Fundamentally, it must be noted that in the 2022/23 season, we were in year one after the coronavirus pandemic. The need for fans to enjoy soccer again without restrictions is great, as the increase in spectator numbers shows. It remains to be seen whether the increased numbers of injuries and criminal proceedings in the 2022/23 season will continue in the future", said Police Director Strudthoff, Head of the ZIS.
Significant decrease in stadium bans
According to the DFB, 340 stadium bans were in force in the top three leagues as of August 2023. This corresponds to a decrease of around 75% following the return to normal operations after the coronavirus pandemic. "A trend that had already been announced in the period before the coronavirus pandemic, when the numbers in this area were already declining," said police director Strudthoff. "The coronavirus period with its many ghost games has contributed to this, as the troublemakers in the stadiums were unable to commit their offenses in the first place and therefore did not meet the legal requirements. Now, however, the fans and thus also the violent supporters are flocking to the stadiums again and the clubs and associations are called upon to consistently exclude these identified rioters given the current increase in the number of criminal offenses and violations," states the head of the ZIS
More misuse of pyrotechnics
While in the 2018/19 season 242 administrative offenses were recorded in connection with the misuse of pyrotechnics, in the past season there were 2,575 offenses under the Administrative Offenses Act. The number of criminal offenses detected in this area also increased by around ten percent to 733 offenses. Overall, the misuse of pyrotechnics has thus increased significantly compared to the 2018/19 season, with over 3,000 cases involving both criminal offenses and administrative offenses. "It's only a matter of time before these explosives, which get extremely hot at over 1,000 degrees, cause blast trauma and release toxic fumes, cause more injuries. We have to counter this decisively with everyone involved", explained Police Director Strudthoff.
Background information:
The Central Information Point for Sports Operations (ZIS) is based at the State Office for Central Police Services North Rhine-Westphalia (LZPD NRW) This ZIS Annual Report on Football is a documentation in which the ZIS, in cooperation with the State Information Points for Sports Operations, the Sports Information Point of the Federal Police Headquarters as well as the police authorities and network partners, presents the current situation in and around soccer stadiums in Germany on an annual basis using the data and findings made available to it. The aim of the annual report is to provide police authorities, network partners and the public with statistical data from the previous season as an objective basis for identifying trends and developments in the area of soccer and violence. It also helps the security partners to further develop their strategies.
