GGFN Editorial | Baden-Württemberg security figures strengthen case for Germany’s Stadium Alliances

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According to Kicker‘s reporting on figures released Friday by the Zentrale Informationsstelle Sporteinsätze (ZIS), Germany’s Central Information Office for Sports Operations, German state and federal police accumulated approximately 2.618 million deployment hours during the 2025/26 football season. The figure represents a modest decline from the previous year’s 2.623 million hours: a 0.19 percent reduction.

Taken in isolation, the reduction of approximately 5,000 hours appears relatively insignificant. Developments in Baden-Württemberg, however, suggest that the cooperative “Stadionallianzen” (Stadium Alliance) model may be capable of delivering considerably more substantial results.

The southwestern German state has recorded a sustained decline in police deployment hours over the past two seasons, accompanied by reductions in injuries, registered criminal offences, and overall policing costs. The figures could provide further encouragement for those advocating a preventative, cooperative approach to football security rather than increasingly extensive police deployments.

Baden-Württemberg records encouraging results under Stadium Alliance model

Baden-Württemberg pioneered the Stadium Alliance model in 2017, establishing a cooperative framework involving police, football clubs, municipal authorities, and local fan projects. The objective is to identify potential security problems before matches, improve communication between the relevant parties, and develop coordinated security arrangements suited to the circumstances of individual fixtures.

The latest results provide an increasingly persuasive argument for the approach.

According to official figures published by Baden-Württemberg’s Interior Ministry, police accumulated 165,471 deployment hours during the 2025/26 season, compared to 173,871 the previous year. The reduction of approximately 4.8 percent produced estimated savings of €600,000. More importantly, the reduction in policing requirements did not coincide with a deterioration in recorded stadium safety.

The number of injured persons fell from 132 to 91, representing a decline of approximately 31 percent. Registered criminal offences decreased from 474 to 452, while the number of police personnel deployments fell from 25,532 to 24,981. The injury figure represented the state’s lowest total in more than a decade.

The positive trend also extends beyond a single season. Baden-Württemberg recorded 188,072 police deployment hours in 2023/24, meaning that the latest figure represents a reduction of approximately 12 percent over two years.

State Interior Minister Manuel Hagel has explicitly credited the Stadium Alliances with helping deliver these improvements.

“More safety and fewer deployment hours show that prevention, dialogue, and cooperation work,” Hagel explained when presenting the figures in August. “That is precisely what our Stadium Alliances stand for.”

Hagel emphasized that closer cooperation between police, clubs, municipalities, and fan projects enables authorities to identify risks early, defuse potential conflicts, and coordinate deployment strategies. The results are particularly noteworthy given that Baden-Württemberg’s statistics cover 368 fixtures across the Bundesliga, 2. Bundesliga, 3. Liga, Regionalliga Südwest, and Oberliga Baden-Württemberg.

Support for the Stadium Alliance model is not confined to Baden-Württemberg’s state government. Ahead of the November 2025 Conference of Interior Ministers, VfB Stuttgart, SC Freiburg, TSG Hoffenheim, Karlsruher SC, and 1. FC Heidenheim issued a joint statement advocating the nationwide expansion of the cooperative security model.

The five clubs emphasized the benefits of closer cooperation between football clubs, police, municipalities, and fan representatives. They also opposed indiscriminate security restrictions, arguing that effective preventative measures should protect both stadium safety and Germany’s distinctive fan culture.

The latest Baden-Württemberg figures now provide fresh encouragement for the clubs’ earlier position. VfB Stuttgart CEO Alexander Wehrle explicitly cited the improvements when renewing his call for nationwide expansion.

“The data are clear: policing costs are falling, and violent incidents are declining,” Wehrle told SWR. “That’s why I’d like to see Stadium Alliances expanded across Germany.”

Can the successes influence Germany’s national security debate?

As previously examined in Get German Football News‘ extensive investigation of Germany’s ongoing stadium security debate, the question of reducing police deployment hours has increasingly become a central concern for politicians, football administrators, and police unions.

The debate has acquired particular significance following Germany’s Federal Constitutional Court ruling in January 2025, which upheld Bremen’s authority to charge organizers for extraordinary police deployments at high-risk football matches.

While other federal states have considered adopting similar arrangements, Baden-Württemberg has continued to emphasize prevention and cooperation as alternatives to transferring additional policing costs onto football clubs.

The cooperative approach has nevertheless attracted interest beyond Baden-Württemberg. As GGFN reported in November 2025, Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann highlighted the role of Stadium Alliances in coordinating security arrangements ahead of the controversial Conference of Interior Ministers.

The latest Baden-Württemberg results provide an encouraging argument in favour of that approach. The state’s Interior Ministry maintains that effective cooperation between local stakeholders can reduce the need for extensive police deployments while simultaneously improving safety.

The national figures released by the ZIS may now provide another reason to examine the approach more closely.

Although the nationwide reduction in police deployment hours amounts to significantly less than one percent, it comes against the backdrop of efforts to expand Stadium Alliances into additional German federal states.

That does not establish that the alliances are responsible for the national decline. The latest figures do, however, demonstrate that policing requirements have not increased uniformly, while Baden-Württemberg offers an example of more substantial reductions accompanying improvements in recorded safety outcomes.

The contrast could become particularly important as other states continue developing similar cooperative security arrangements.

Stadium Alliances face demands for greater accountability

The cooperative model has nevertheless attracted demands for more rigorous evaluation.

As previously reported by GGFN, the police union in Hesse has called for the state’s existing Stadium Alliances to be assessed using clearer benchmarks, including deployment hours, injuries, criminal offences, pyrotechnic incidents, and recurring conflict situations.

Hessian police union chairman Jens Mohrherr emphasized that preventative work should take precedence over constantly increasing deployments.

“Police are not an infinite [personnel] resource,” Mohrherr explained. “Prevention has to come before police deployment.”

His remarks reflect a broader concern shared by several participants in the stadium security debate: simply assigning more officers to football matches cannot constitute a sustainable long-term strategy.

New ZIS figures underline continuing challenges

The latest national report also contains less encouraging developments. Recorded criminal offences, for example, increased from 7,054 to 7,668. The figures demonstrate that the country’s stadium security challenges remain substantial, even as overall injuries and police deployment hours have declined.

The league nevertheless also identified the continued expansion of Stadium Alliances as an important contribution toward reducing the number of police officers required around football matches. This position reflects the broader arguments advanced by German football authorities during last year’s controversial Conference of Interior Ministers.

The debate provoked considerable opposition from organized supporters. As examined in GGFN‘s coverage of the nationwide Bundesliga atmosphere boycotts, fans protested proposed restrictions involving personalized tickets, identification requirements, and greater surveillance.

The widespread movement was also evident when Mainz and Hoffenheim supporters helped launch the coordinated Bundesliga protests, displaying banners opposing what they considered the generalized suspicion of peaceful football supporters.

As previously documented by GGFN, the DFB, DFL, and organized supporter groups subsequently presented a united front against indiscriminate restrictions, instead emphasizing preventative cooperation, proportionality, and the development of existing local security structures.

A potential blueprint for German football

The latest developments do not resolve every question surrounding the Stadium Alliance model. Baden-Württemberg’s progress cannot automatically be replicated across the country, and the relationship between cooperative security arrangements and improved statistical outcomes requires continued evaluation.

The state’s experience still provides an increasingly encouraging example of what coordinated preventative work might achieve. Two consecutive seasons of declining police deployment hours, accompanied by fewer injuries, fewer registered offences, and lower policing costs, offer a persuasive reason to examine the model’s potential.

In a national debate frequently dominated by disagreements over police bills, supporter restrictions, and the consequences of serious disturbances, Baden-Württemberg’s results present an alternative worth considering. The question is no longer simply how much policing German football requires or who should pay for it.

It is whether more effective cooperation can make some of that policing unnecessary in the first place.

GGFN | Peter Weis