German clubs to get bill for increased policing costs at high-risk matches

The 2025 decision was ​triggered by a complaint filed by the German Football League that runs ⁠the top two divisions, over a local law ⁠in Bremen, whereby clubs must pay their share of such increased ‌costs. | Photo Credit: Getty Images

The German Football Association said it would ​pass on increased policing costs for high-risk matches ‌to home clubs. The German authorities added that they were still opposed to charging fees for policing.

This call comes more than a year after the German Federal Constitutional Court ruled that German Bundesliga clubs needed to loosen the purse strings to ensure safety for fans at home games.

“Should the DFB receive ​fee notices for ‌police costs, we will pass those costs on to the respective clubs,” DFB President Bernd Neuendorf said in a statement. “Regardless ‌of this, we continue to believe ​that charging fees for police costs is the wrong approach.”

“The shared goal ⁠of policymakers, the police, associations, and clubs must be to improve the local security ‌situation and reduce the number of police hours deployed at football matches. Neither objective is achieved through a fee-based system. We therefore continue to favour a cooperative approach in our collaboration with policymakers ‌and the police,” he said.

The 2025 decision was ​triggered by a complaint filed by the German Football League that runs ⁠the top two divisions, over a local law ⁠in Bremen, whereby clubs must pay their share of such increased ‌costs.

The court ruled in 2025 that the 2014 law of Bremen was in ​accordance with the constitution.