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The German Penal catalogue for fan misbehaviour in football: a model for other countries?

ABSTRACT Clubs, fans and especially the active fan scene in Europe have criticised the penalties given by sports courts for fan misbehaviour as they perceive a lack of transparency and uniformity. The German Football Association (DFB) accepted the protests and criticisms as in 2018 they introduced sentencing guidelines that determine exact penalties for certain offences. In order to examine whether this approach could serve as a role model for other European countries, this paper investigates the fines and changes in transparency and uniformity. Three different studies are conducted. They include an analysis of 981 hand-collected past sentences imposed by the German courts; 26 expert interviews with representatives of the association, courts, clubs, sponsors, police, active fan scenes and ultra-groups; and 127 interviews with stadium visitors. The paper shows that the sentencing guidelines were able to increase the transparency and uniformity as perceived by nearly all interview participants, while the respondents clearly criticised the practice prior to the reform. The analysis additionally reveals a significant enhancement in provable uniformity since sentences are no longer bundled. Given the effects, the guidelines could serve as a role model for other countries. The findings also indicate the importance of raising awareness of the guidelines, introducing some modifications and continuously focusing on dialogue.