Germany goes to the polls: What do football fans want?
Two days out from a momentous election, what topics matter most to Germany’s match-going fans?
This Sunday, German citizens will take to the polls to decide on the makeup of their next Federal government. Olaf Scholz’s ‘traffic light coalition’ of his centre-left SDP, centrist FDP and the Greens fell apart in November, prompting an early election which could drastically alter the direction of the country and Europe’s wider economy. I won’t pretend to be an expert on the current situation — to that end I can recommend Jörg Luyken’s ‘The German Review’ as a brilliant resource for English speakers that want to understand German politics — but I can provide a snapshot on the mood emanating from the terrace’s up and down the land.
Several ‘kurves’ have used the last few gameweeks as an opportunity to canvas the powers that be. Here’s our summary of the political statements made in the top two divisions.
No votes for Fascists
Earlier this week, the Munich Conference saw a hectoring screed against European politics delivered by Peter Thiel’s lickspittle, J.D. Vance. The charisma vacuum tried and failed to land jokes about Greta Thunberg’s threat to democracy while extolling the virtue of *checks notes*, Elon fucking Musk. However cringe the delivery, the message was clear. European leaders — read German leaders — should not ignore far right parties that command large percentages of their country’s vote. This, of course, was an attempt to bolster the AfD’s position; the anti-immigration party are second in the polls and are expected to garner 22% of the public vote.
Several fan groups shared messages of solidarity with the victims of fascist violence, while others reaffirmed their commitment to battling the policies of the far right. In Mainz, ultras shared leaflets around the MEWA Arena, criticising parties which worked alongside the AfD and characterising their fan base as having “the clear understanding there is no place here for racism or discrimination in any form, no exceptions!”
The flyer continued: “We must combat these developments together. It must be clear that we stand for an open and tolerant terrace where we can all rely upon one another. Everyone must speak up! Far-right ideology must not be allowed to take root here because it excludes. Those who see that differently have no place here.”
That tacit condemnation of the CDU — Freidrich Merz’s party will be the leading partner of the next coalition but have been heavily criticised for breaking convention and courting votes from the AfD to pass an anti-asylum motion — was mirrored in Munich. Bayern fans on the Sudkurve unfurled a banner reading: "Pursue AfD policies today, live in an AfD state tomorrow!” They labelled the Christian Democrats, and their Bavarian wing the Christian Social Union, “enablers of fascism”.
Coordinated demands for the rights of football fans
On the 11th February, the Dachverbrand der Fanhilven (DdF), a national organisation that coordinates the efforts of local fan legal aid groups, published their list of demands for the incoming government. The seven point statement calls for:
Rejection of the EU’s proposed ‘Chatkontrolle’ — a piece of legislation that would require digital communication platforms to monitor private communications of individuals. Designed to combat child sexual abuse, German fans are worried it could be used to surveil Ultras.
The right for social workers to not testify against their fans — The recent case in Karlsruhe, where three social workers from the club’s fanprojekt were fined for not revealing information on a pyrotechnic display, has threatened the contract between fans and their supporting organisations.
Strengthening the position of the parliamentary police commissioner — a position implemented in 2024 that investigates misconduct and shortcomings in law enforcement.
No additional police powers
Abolition of the Datei Gewalttäter Sport or ‘Violent Sports Criminal Database’ — This database has collated data on spurious cases of ‘fan violence’ and also been accused of holding civilian information for an undefined period of time. A court found this practice to be partly unconstitutional in a landmark ruling in 2024.
Abolition of stricter punishments for alleged attacks against police officers.
Compulsory individual identification for police officers — The DdF refers to multiple instances where “fans have been unable to press charges for obvious police misconduct” because individual officers couldn’t be identified. They claim this is indicative of “an absence of accountability” when it comes to “severe police actions against football fans.”
We’ve covered these topics on Bundesletter before, and other organisations such as Unsere Kurve have long canvassed German football’s hierarchy to stem the over-surveillance and heavy-handed approach of the Police. However, the DdF’s timely intervention has spurred a coordinated movement around these topics in the buildup to the election.
In the most high-profile match of the week, the ‘Topspiel’ between Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich, the Nordkurve at the Bayer Arena gave their two cents. A banner read: “Protect fan rights! Freedom for the terraces!" Fan groups at clubs including Union Berlin, SC Freiburg and Borussia Mönchengladbach added their voice, too.
As these fans go to the polls, it’s unclear which, if any party, is most likely to deliver on their demands. The German system is of course predicated on consensus. Thus far, that consensus has delivered policies which have eroded fan privacy and failed to hold law enforcement to account. The ‘alternatives’ are too outside the accepted norms of modern Germany to take power, as it should be.
The pessimist in me expects these demands to fall on deaf ears. The optimist loves that German fans refuse to be silent, and will always fight their corner. That spirit of community has been stripped out of many societies and industries making us lonely, worse-off and weak against the machinations of a billionaire class that sucks up resources and dictates policy. That hasn’t happened in German football, so even if fans don’t get everything they want, they never stop campaigning for a fairer shake. Let that be a lesson to us all.