The short version
- BFC Dynamo and Energie Cottbus’ tier four soccer match ended with 155 injured police officers in Berlin on Saturday
- The match was stopped for 20 minutes due to supporter disturbances; stone throwing and burning of supporter effects
- Cottbus coach experienced violent behaviour, while police arrested 74 supporters
- Strong reactions from German politicians, who demand action from the old big club from the GDR, BFC Dynamo.
- Berliner FC Dynamo has a long history of fan riots and violence
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The hate match was stopped for 20 minutes in the 1st half. The players were sent to the dressing room. The home team’s fans burned supporter effects from Energie Cottbus up in the stands. Berliner FC Dynamo has a long history of supporter riots and conflicts with the police.
It peaked when a young supporter was shot dead by the police 34 years ago.
Cottbus coach Claus-Dieter Wollitz claims that stones were thrown at him on the sidelines on Saturday. The old big club BFC Dynamo rejected that in a press release on Sunday.
– I’m used to being bullied, especially here. But that you should be afraid of being stoned during a fight. It should have been unthinkable to feel threatened in 2024, says Wollitz according to rbb 24.
There were also violent clashes after the match. German media reports that 116 police officers were injured by gas, 28 received injuries from attacks by spectators, while 11 police officers were injured by pyroAbbreviation for pyrotechnics, which refers to the use of fireworks or other flammable devices used to create a visual effect, often used by supporters during football matches..
The police arrested a total of 74 supporters at Sportforum Hohenschönhausen in the capital.
The scandalous battle arouses strong reactions in Germany.
– 155 injured police officers are the terrible consequences of these massive riots. Such violence destroys the sport. I wish the injured officials a speedy and good recovery, wrote German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser on X on Monday.
Berlin’s senatorA political title used in some countries, here it refers to a politician in charge of a particular area, in this case sports in Berlin. for sports, Iris Spranger, is no more gracious.
– I condemn this, she says and continues.
– The club (BFC Dynamo) must now tell us what it wants to do with its fan base. We use tax money to provide 1,000 police officers to ensure security, says Spranger.
Energie Cottbus scored a goal after the break and won the match 2–0. The former big club leads the Regionliga Nordöst and is on its way back up to the 3rd level. The former East German club has six seasons in BundesligaThe highest division in the German football league system. . Last in the 2008/09 season.
BFC Dynamo is in 4th place, and is unlikely to move up after losing three of the last four games.
In its time, the club was GDR’s most successful with 10 series championships in a row from 1979 to 1988. During this period, Berliner FC Dynamo played two quarter-finals in the then Champions League – the European Cup for series winners.
A supporter culture developed in the club which was often regarded as right-wing radicalRight-wing radicalism is a “collective term for political parties and movements to the right of parliamentary conservatism”.. Today’s club management will no longer tolerate such attitudes in the stands.
The Dynamo fans often came into conflict with the former East German police, the Volkspolizei and the Stasi. The cup final against Carl Zeiss Jena in 1988 is known as the most violent in GDR history.
It continued in a unified Germany. The 18-year-old Dynamo supporter Mike Polley was killed by the police in connection with an away match against FC Sachsen Leipzig just one month after the gathering in the autumn of 1990. The police are said to have fired 50 to 100 shots in the confrontation with the Dynamo supporters. But no one was punished for the supporter’s death.
