1. FC Köln: lawsuit dismissed: only 10,000 fans in Cologne against Frankfurt – Bundesliga
1. FC Köln suffered their first bankruptcies before the game on Saturday (6:30 p.m.) against Eintracht Frankfurt. The urgent request for 25,000 spectators was rejected twice. Cologne has to play in front of 10,000 fans.
The club had lodged an urgent application with the Higher Administrative Court in Münster against the current spectator restrictions (last 10,000) and demanded a capacity utilization of at least 50 percent. Vain.
On Friday afternoon, the Higher Administrative Court reported: “Today the Higher Administrative Court rejected an urgent application by the licensed player company of 1. FC Köln against the capacity limitation to a maximum of 10,000 spectators applicable in North Rhine-Westphalia for games in the Bundesliga, among other things.”
The club then went up one level and went to the Constitutional Court in Münster. One sees oneself in the basic rights violated justification. But here, too, FC failed. The application for an interim order is rejected,” the Constitutional Court confirmed shortly before 11 p.m.
Club President Werner Wolf (64) justified the first FC step last week before the OVG as follows: “Against the background of numerous expert opinions over the past few days that an overload of the intensive care units is not to be expected and a variety of relaxation measures in other areas of life as well as in many other leagues in Europe, we are also committed to further easing for 1. FC Köln for the next home game against Eintracht Frankfurt.”
The OVG for this: “The Higher Administrative Court did not follow this argument. The reason given by the 13th Senate was: The challenged capacity limitation for football stadiums does not obviously violate the principle of proportionality. Even with the immediate infection situation, in which there is no acute threat of overloading the intensive care units, it is not objectionable that the legislator does not yet consider infection control measures to protect life and health and to maintain a functioning health system to be dispensable.
Cologne reasoned application with existential need
The court’s final statement also states that FC obviously justified its urgent application with the fact that the club’s existence was under acute threat. The club failed to provide a reason.
The OVG writes: “The averting of dangers to the life and health of the population and the functionality of the health system, which the legislator intended to avert, is – even now – more important than the economic interests of the applicant. According to her presentation, she suffers a considerable financial expense per match day if the current regulation applies. However, the applicant only asserted that the consequences of the current capacity limitation are threatening for Siez and did not provide any rudimentary evidence.”
Cologne now has 24 hours to sell the 10,000 tickets. The last 10000 home game tickets were sold out within just ten minutes.