Minister of the Interior Thomas Strobl: “Baden-Württemberg has courageously taken a new path with the stadium alliances – now it has been scientifically confirmed: Our stadium alliances work”

“With our concept of stadium alliances, we bring all stakeholders around a football location to one table. With communication at eye level and a shared sense of responsibility, we ensure more safety at football. The players on the ground give the stadium alliances an excellent report card. They attest to the effectiveness and importance of this type of cooperation in further increasing security in and around football stadiums. Our stadium alliances are also very well received in other states of the Federal Republic of Germany, which we see as further confirmation of our successful actions,” said Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Thomas Strobl today (Monday, 13 February 2023). The occasion was the publication of the results of a research project on Baden-Württemberg’s stadium alliances.

The effectiveness of the stadium alliances was scientifically confirmed by a research project conducted by the Potsdam University of Applied Sciences on behalf of the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Federal Institute for Sports Science. 91 per cent of the local security actors surveyed stated that they considered the stadium alliances to be important and profitable as a supplement to the existing meeting structure. The study therefore recommends a permanent anchoring of the stadium alliances in the National Concept Sport and Security, a regional deepening of the existing approaches and a possible nationwide expansion of the model to other states – as a participatory approach with close involvement of the local stakeholders.

“At that time, the decisive impulse and the implementation in practice came from our State Information Centre for Sport Operations in the Ministry of the Interior. A companion and close partner at our side was and is the German Football League, with whom we jointly launched the stadium alliances and with whom we continue to focus on further development,” said Interior Minister Thomas Strobl.

Since the 2017/2018 season, the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of the Interior has been pursuing the approach of stadium alliances to intensify a trusting, responsible and effective cooperation between the security actors of police, municipalities, clubs and fan organisations. Close cooperation in the stadium alliances has reduced the number of offences and injuries and thus ensured a safe stadium experience. This was accompanied by a considerable reduction in the security effort and thus in particular in the number of police officers deployed. “The police officers are urgently needed elsewhere,” Interior Minister Thomas Strobl emphasised in conclusion.

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The guiding principles of the study

• Stadium alliances fulfil the fundamental need of the actors involved for changes and optimisations in cooperation at the local level.
• Stadium alliances are to be seen as a sensible and important addition to the already existing networking architecture and meeting culture, especially for the police and clubs. They are perceived as a valuable network that provides new impulses.
• Stadium alliances fill a void – the opportunity for interdisciplinary horizon broadening, with the chance to qualitatively improve their own activities.
• The generally high satisfaction of the stakeholders with central process aspects of the stadium alliances shows that it has been possible to develop a positive working atmosphere and cooperation processes based on trust.
• Stadium alliances promote the development of a community of responsibility and local identities. They have the potential to transform a sometimes-disturbed relationship towards a community of responsibility.
• Stadium alliances promote conditions for a safe stadium experience. They effectively lead to reduced security efforts through improved assessment of security situations.
• Police can also be part of the hosting role.
• Stadium alliances are not a temporary development – but implementation of an approach with a transnational, nationwide steadily increasing importance.