1. FC Köln suffered their first bankruptcy before the game on Saturday (6:30 p.m.) once morest 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 once morest the current spectator restrictions (last 10,000) and demanded a capacity utilization of at least 50 percent. Vain.
On Friday followingnoon, the Higher Administrative Court reported: “Today the Higher Administrative Court rejected an urgent application by the licensed player company of 1. FC Köln once morest 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 went up one level and went to the Constitutional Court in Münster. Reason: One sees oneself violated in the fundamental rights. But here, too, FC failed. The application for a temporary injunction is rejected,” the Constitutional Court announced 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 once morest 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 current 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 justified the application with a need for existence
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 today – more important than the economic interests of the applicant. According to her presentation, she suffers considerable financial losses per match day if the current regulation applies. However, the applicant only asserted that the consequences of the current capacity limitation are threatening their existence 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.
