Recent reports have given the public the impression that FC Bayern München would arbitrarily prevent Besiktas fans from attending the Allianz Arena for the Champions League match on 20 February.
This impression is wrong and contrary to the facts.
The facts are that Besiktas' management waived their right to a contingent of around 3,800 fan tickets for fear of exclusion from European competition. Following violence involving Besiktas fans in Lyon in 2017, UEFA launched an investigation into the Turkish club. Besiktas have not claimed tickets for their fans in European away matches since then. Questions of liability have thus devolved upon FC Bayern without the club's involvement.
As Besiktas have refused to claim the tickets for their fans, FC Bayern are obliged to offer the away tickets for the last sixteen first leg against Besiktas next Tuesday, just like all other tickets, exclusively to FC Bayern München fans (in accordance with the UEFA regulations, articles 15.1; 17.1).
As all tickets have to be sold to FC Bayern München fans, the club face a dilemma: according to UEFA regulations (article 15; article 17), handing or selling tickets to away fans is not allowed, to ensure separation of fans. If all tickets have to be sold to the fans of one team, an exclusion of the other club's fans follows automatically. In this case, Besiktas are responsible for the exclusion because the club have not made use of their tickets.
Rigorous admission controls will be conducted to implement the security standards demanded by UEFA. The separation of fans must be guaranteed, according to UEFA regulations.
"Like all clubs, FC Bayern München is bound to observe UEFA's security regulations for Champions League matches," declared Dr Michael Gerlinger, FC Bayern München legal director. "You need to know that we as a club might be punished in lieu of Besiktas if we ignore UEFA's security regulations. In an extreme case it would mean our exclusion from European competition.
As a basic principle, nobody should carelessly disregard security standards. But I'm certain our staff will conduct admission to the stadium correctly and sympathetically."
Topics of this article